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FLASHES OF LIGHT 



THE SPIRIT-LAND, 



THROUGH THE MEDIUMS HIP> 



OP 



MRS. J. H. CONANT. 



COMPILED BY 

ALLEN *TUTNAM, 

AUTHOR OF "SPIRIT WORKS;" "NATTY, A SPIRIT;" "MESMERISM, 

SPIRITUALISM, WITCHCRAFT, AND MIRACLE;" 

ETC., ETC. 




BOSTON: 
WILLIAM WHITE AND COMPANY, 

"BANNER OF LIGHT" OFFICE, 
158 Washington Street. 

1872. 



^ \^ 



f ' 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 

By WILLIAM WHITE & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
No. 19 Spring Lane. 




PREFACE. 



Many a reader of the following work may welcome a brief 
account of its source and history. The origin, object and in- 
fluence of the 

Banner of Light 

were set forth at a public seance, September 4, 1871, by 
Spirit Theodore Parker, in the following 

ADDRESS. 

I have been requested to make a statement concerning the 
result of our labors as ministering spirits through the Banner 
of Light. In preface I would say, that we are entering upon 
the fifteenth year of our ministerial labor through that journal ; 
but it is nearly nineteen years since a band of far-seeing, 
energetic spirits resolved that they would be heard on earth 
through the press ; and as all the journals then extant were 
conservative, creed-bound, and, what is worse, money-bound, 
it became necessary for these spirits, if their theory or project 
was to be put in operation, to start a journal of their own. 

This being determined upon in convention, agents were sent 
out to see who among the children of earth could be selected 
and adapted to the work. After months of searching they 
were found ; but they were in the rough. It then became 
necessary to employ artists to chisel them, and hammer and 
polish them. This was done by sickness, by losses, by sorrow, 

3 



4 FREFAQE. 

by various trials which were imposed upon those persons, until, 
at last these artists announced to the assembly that the subjects 
were ready to be vitalized. They were then separately visited 
by a committee selected for the purpose, and were baptized 
with a holy ghost of aspiration, of spiritual desire, and were 
made ready to stand in front of the opposition incident to the 
introduction of a truth to the world. 

It was well known by this band of spirits what dangers 
their mortal coadjutors would be obliged to meet if led in the 
path marked out ; well known that they would be assailed by 
pulpit and press, and that shots .would be fired at them from 
every avenue in life ; but they also knew that they should be 
able to sustain them ; for they understood of what elements 
they were composed, and knew that when once these mortal co- 
adjutors put their hands to the spiritual plough, they would not ' 
turn back, for they were so largely inspired with faith in those 
who were leading them that they could not. And to-day the 
result of our labors is this : Our spiritual statistics show that 
we have brought seventy-two thousand seven hundred and 
forty-six into the spiritual fold here in this earth-life. We 
have enumerated only those who are sound, honest Spiritual- 
ists, leaving out all the nondescripts. And the number which 
has been added to the ranks of freedom — been liberated from 
the darkness of creeds, and from the various conditions of 
darkness that the spirit often carries with it from this world 
to the higher life — that number has been quadrupled, leaving 
out all those who are not firm and sound in the way of spirit- 
ual right. 

This much, then, by the grace of Almighty God, we have 
been enabled to do ; and to-day our glorious Banner floats in 
every clime : it has been read by every race of human beings ; 
we have found it in the Esquimaux hut, and upon the throne ; 
it has gone forth with the God-speed of the angel world, and 
to-day it is stronger than it ever was before. It proposes to 
gather under its folds a larger multitude than are already there ; 
and although this band of spirits may not be able to reward 
their mortal coadjutors as they might wish, their rew T ard in the 



PREFACE. 5 

hereafter is sure, and they have nothing to fear, for they are 
so firmly grounded in truth and justice that the gates of hell 
cannot prevail against them. 

Penalties of Mediumship. 

Do kind spirits ever subject certain selected, sensitive mor- 
tals to prolonged, harsh and agonizing experiences, for the 
special purpose of making them obedient subordinates and 
facile instruments in beneficent philanthropic labors? The 
foregoing address implies that they do. Read the autobiog- 
raphy of the prophet Ezekiel, noting carefully the discipline 
to which he was subjected by " the spirit that entered into 
him," and so " took him away " that " he went in bitterness," 
and one will notice that humiliating and agonizing trials are 
not new instrumentalities for developing and supplizing medi- 
umistic susceptibilities and subduing the powers of human self- 
determination. The world's most venerated seers and prophets, 
almost without exception, were men of sorrows, acquainted 
with grief, hardships and privations. 

The common judgment of men often assumes that pure, kind 
and wise spirits can use no persons as mediums who are devoid 
of eminent moral worth. But no exceptional moral merit or 
demerit is apparent to the external observer of modern medi- 
ums, or to the reader of history, as belonging to those who 
have been, in every age, chiselled, polished and baptized to 
make them satisfactory instruments and coadjutors of spirits 
for disclosing marvels and truths to mortals. To show that 
the common assumption is unwarranted, and that mediumship 
is mainly the offspring of physical peculiarities, we quote part 
of a definition of mediumship by Parker, December 16, 1867. 
See page 106. 

" A medium is simply a body that is sensitive to the od 
forces in the universe — forces which you do not thoroughly 
understand ; those that have not come within the sphere of 
human science ; those with which human science has not yet 
dealt. A medium possesses a peculiar quality of magnetism 
and electricity." 



Q PREFACE. 

A New Testament writer (Heb. xi.) defined Faith as " the 
evidence of things not seen," and used the word Faith to 
express precisely such trust in higher powers as our facile 
mediums often manifest, and, many centuries after the fall of 
Jericho, catalogued the harlot Rahab with Abel, Enoch, Noah, 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, as worthy of remembrance 
for what they achieved by Faith — by " the evidence" they 
had " of things not seen." The principles on which mediums 
are selected are the same now as in the days of Joshua ; they 
involve chiefly physical fitness. 

The Visible Banner-Bearers. 

Selected, induced and aided by spirits, certain mortals, in 
1857, unfurled the Banner of Light, started on a march, crept 
along the verge of bankruptcy for years, once toppled over the 
brink, and threw off a load of thirty thousand dollars' indebted- 
ness, and yet have never failed on any subsequent week to give 
the Banner an airing. Loaded with the very heavy extraordi- 
nary expenses of the Message Department, the paper to-day, 
apart from the book publishing business of the proprietors, is not 
self-sustaining, and through every former year failed to reim- 
burse its cost. Unflagging toil and financial anxieties have 
been constant experiences with these Banner-Bearers . Faith 
in the wisdom, power and justice of their invisible co-laborers 
has given them hope, strength and perseverance. Whether 
one credits the account above given of the establishment and 
supervision of the Banner or not, that paper has long outlived 
every kindred companion of its infancy, and is now in vigor- 
ous and efficient manhood. 

The extreme sensitiveness and physical frailties of the chief 
medium have required daily visits by a paid physician, quiet, 
neat and airy apartments, and an invalid's many delicacies ; 
the cost of these, supplemented by the general needs of herself 
and her dependent husband, calls for more than three thousand 
dollars per annum ; and when we add to that sum the rent and 
care of the Circle Room, and fair compensation to a reporter 
magnetically, sympathetically, and in all other respects, fitted 



PREFACE. ' 7 

for the place and its duties, it will be obvious that the cost of 
the message department is very onerous. 

The original band of visible workers, all consciously suscep- 
tible to spirit promptings, were William Berry, William White, 
Luther Colby and Mrs. Conant, the latter being the trusted 
channel of oracles. Isaac B. Rich and Charles H. Crowell, 
brother of Mrs. Conant, subsequently joined the Banner firm. 
Berry and Crowell have joined the pioneers in spirit-land, and 
are there helping to open pathways for and increase the 
efficiency of their associates and successors. 

Luther Colby, now and from its commencement chief 
editor of the Banner, has long been making his mark and 
recording his own biography in its columns. Fretting reso- 
lutely, now and then, under the harrowings of conflicting influ- 
ences from both around and above him ; suffering sorely, and 
almost frenzied by the tearings of the harrows, he yet per- 
severingly manifests his faith in and obedience to spirit in- 
structions and impressions, blended with no small amount of 
personal independence and self-reliance in the management 
of his paper, and in his judgments as to the wisest and most 
efficient methods for advancing the cause of Spiritualism. In 
these labors he has long been efficiently aided by his calm and 
worthy assistant editor, L. B. Wilson. A future day will be 
early enough for an extended account of Colby's inspirations, 
labors and sufferings. 

The public may expect an extended and authentic biogra- 
phy of Mrs. Conant some time in the present year ; therefore 
our notice of her may be very brief. She has been a medium 
from infancy. " Angels spoke through " her " lips," as they 
did through Swedenborg's, in early childhood, and have con- 
tinued the use of them with uncommon persistency and 
method. It is said by those who know her well that she 
possesses no intellectual or literary abilities above or aside 
from the common average of females ; that her education is 
quite limited, and that in her normal state she is manifestly 
incompetent to such utterances as her organs put forth when 
used by spirits. This is much more than credible ; for, during 



8 PREFACE. 

several sessions of service in the legislature, beginning almost 
forty years ago and ending in 1852, covering a period when 
Massachusetts halls were daily familiar with the speeches of 
very eloquent and cultured men, we can recall but one or two 
of them who would not in extemporaneous debate frequently 
forget the grammar lessons of their youth, and utter sentences 
which would shame them if seen in print. But in this work 
are more than two hundred pages of impromptu answers, 
through Mrs. Conant, verbatim as they fell from her lips. 
And as such they are a prolonged miracle of correct gram- 
mar, of perspicuity and relevancy. 

Occasionally very good versification, bordering at times 
upon good poetry, flows forth from her lips ; yet in her 
normal state nothing of the kind ever came from her tongue 
or pen. 

Throughout many years she has endured much physical 
debility and suffering, enhanced by solicitude for and support 
of a husband in whom the light of reason is unsteady and 
waning, who must pass his years in seclusion from general 
society, away from his home. Rarely can any mortal say 
more truthfully than she, " My burden is greater than I can 
bear." Seemingly her spirit is held to the body mostly by 
the sympathy and aid of other spirits on the two sides of the 
separating veil. Thus frail, burdened and saddened is the 
instrument for clear, strong, forcible, and correct enunciations. 
Who wields the instrument? Frail Mrs. Conant alone? Let 
common sense make answer. 

Origin op Questions and Answers. 

The compiler, finding no department headed Questions and 
Answers in the earlier volumes of the Banner, and it being 
from under that heading alone that he was permitted to select, 
privately asked the editor when and why that department was 
introduced ; when and why the controlling spirits arranged to 
make themselves simply responders to inquiries put by inquisi- 
tive man. 

At the public seance, April 1, 1872, Spirit Parker said, I 



PREFACE. 9 

may as well answer at this place as anywhere else a request 
that has been made. It is this : — 

Give us the origin of the questions and answers making up 
a portion of the message department of the Banner of Light. 

The inauguration of this special department originated with 
a public need — with a demand made upon the spirits con- 
trolling at this place by- audiences here convened. This de- 
mand at last became so urgent that it could no longer be 
resisted by the spirit-world ; and so, in answer to this prayer 
or demand, this special department was inaugurated, and it 
was determined that whatever spirit presided on any occasion 
should be the spirit who would receive and answer the ques- 
tions propounded, and that that spirit, and that one alone, 
should be accountable for the answers. If it was a Theodore 
Parker and he told a lie, h'e should be accountable for it. If 
it was a Swedenborg and he told a lie, he should be account- 
able for it. If it was a Jesus Christ and he told a lie, he 
should be accountable for it. If it was a prostitute from 
North Street and she told a lie, she should be accountable 
for it. 

The spirit- world was in ignorance for a long time as to the 
best methods of imparting what they knew to those who were 
in need of such knowledge here. For years information from 
the spirit-world came at random shots ; but, thanks be to the 
overruling Providence, these shots did their work. By and 
by bands were organized all throughout the various spirit- 
realms — some for one purpose and some another — to dis- 
seminate truth upon the earth, to sweep away those old con- 
ditions of darkness that had so long dragged the soul down, 
and made it drink the bitter waters of error. 

The band organized to control at this place consisted of a 
President, Vice-President, Secretary, Chairman, and General 
Committee. Under their supervision have come all things 
that were given at this place. And so far as they were able, 
these presiding spirits were to learn concerning the truthful- 
ness or falsity of each returning spirit. They did so, and 
having satisfied themselves of the truthfulness of each one 



10 PREFACE. 

desiring to return, it then became their duty to assist them 
over this rainbow bridge of life that they might meet their 
loved ones here, whose hearts were unconsciously aching for 
the same truth which they could bring them. 

The Seances. 

Tri-weekly for many years a band of spirits have given 
impromptu answers to the world's promiscuous questions, 
through Mrs. J. H. Conaut, at the Banner of Light Circle 
Room, 158 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. The doors of 
that room, the walls of which are adorned with likenesses of 
many spirits and prominent Spiritualists, and with spirit- 
drawings, are gratuitously opened to all comers. Not less 
than a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five persons are 
usually present at a seance. 

Promptly at the designated hour for meeting Mrs. Conant 
takes her seat upon a platform raised about two feet above the 
floor. The doors are then locked ; the medium soon passes 
under control, and the controlling spirit enunciates impressively 
and fervently a brief invocation to the supreme Intelligence. 
That ended, he or she calls for any questions the chairman 
may have. A question, if any have been sent or handed in, 
is read in the hearing of the whole assembly, and is forthwith 
replied to, — sometimes in a brief monosyllable, but generally 
by a discussion more or less extended. This course is fol- 
lowed till all the questions in the chairman's keeping have 
been answered. That point reached, permission is given to 
any person in the audience to make verbal inquiries relating 
either to what has been said or to any other subject, and 
questions thus propounded are promptly responded to. The 
dialogue over, the controlling spirit yields possession of the 
medium to some other invisible. Usually at each seance 
three, four or more spirits successively are allowed to enun- 
ciate their wishes or sentiments at this public resort, whence 
the words will be sent on their way to those for whom they 
are specially intended. 

Enveloped letters addressed to particular spirits may be laid 



PREFACE. 11 

upon the medium's table by any persons as they enter the 
room. From fifteen to thirty visitors usually avail themselves 
of this privilege, and after the speaking is over, the medium, 
in the presence of the whole company, fingers these letters one 
after another, and rapidly writes a few words upon the un- 
opened envelope of most of them. That work finished, the 
medium's haud is used to write the name of the spirit who has 
conducted that seance, and of the one who answered the let- 
ters. This slip the chairman (who is usually Mr. William 
White, one of the publishers of the Banner) reads to the whole 
assembly, and then announces that the exercises of the occasion 
are ended. While the assembly is passing out from the room, 
the letters, which are private property, are reclaimed and taken 
away by those severally who placed them upon the table. 
Such is a brief account of the circumstances amid which the 
questions and answers have their birth. 

The Compiler's Work. 

The compiler's connection with the Banner is solely that of 
temporary employee. When invited to assume his task he was 
informed that Theodore Parker desired that a compilation 
from the Banner questions and answers should be published in 
book form, and favored the employment of himself as the 
compiler. 

Shortly after that he called upon Mrs. Conant at her lodg- 
ings, and had, through her, an interview with Parker. The 
main inquiry put to that spirit was whether the selections 
should be so arranged as to present in consecutive paragraphs 
the scattered and sometimes discrepant statements relative to 
particular topics, — such as atonement, forgiveness, immor- 
tality, &c, — or whether chronological order, as in the Banner, 
should be preserved. 

The reply called for retention of the chronological sequence, 
— for selections from none but utterances subsequent to the 
commencement of verbatim reports (summer of 1867), and for 
preservation of the exact language of each communicator. 
The purport of the information then gained was, that the 



12 PREFACE. 

spirit controllers of the Banner circles desired that the com- 
pilation should be a fair and ample compendium of their teach- 
ings upon every subject of general interest which they had 
discussed at the seances within a given time. 

The act of compilation, therefore, was not to impose any 
responsibility for the truth, wisdom or moral influences of the 
contents of the work ; discretionary power was limited to judg- 
ment as to what parts contained more and what less that 
would be novel, interesting or instructive to the reading world, 
and to the exclusion of the less important. 

Personal approval or disapproval of the doctrines or senti- 
ments communicated must be allowed no influence upon the 
compiling judgment ; and wherever diversity of opinion should 
be found among the spirit teachers, it would be duty to let the 
diversity reappear in the epitome. Even the most absolute 
incredibility and seeming absurdity of statements must favor 
their reappearance rather than their suppression. The read- 
er's astronomical and geographical knowledge and science may 
stand aghast when he comes to what spirits say they know 
about the size of our globe, and its yet undiscovered continents 
and peoples ; but the compiler is not privileged to suppress 
any distinct utterances because they surpass the comprehension 
of us moles. He must comply with the instructions and re- 
strictions of his engagement. 

The files of the Banner from the autumn of 1867 down 
to January 1, 1872, contained " Questions and Answers" 
enough to constitute a volume of twelve hundred pages, while 
the book must be limited to about four hundred. The com- 
piler's work required neither skill nor taste in literary compo- 
sition and arrangement, but very much reading and re-reading, 
and great care to select in such ways that each controlling 
speaker, each topic of general interest, and each significant 
difference of statement or opinion, might appear in the Com- 
pendium, and that without any abridgment or change of 
language. But repeated and re-repeated clippings failed to 
bring the mass down to the desired compression, and a portion 



PREFACE. 13 

of the approved matter is held in reserve for constituting a part 
of another volume, to be issued in some future year. 

Persons of all grades of intellect and culture, of various 
creeds, and from different motives, gather in the Circle Room, 
and promiscuously propound questions varying from the most 
profound to the most frivolous, from the most liberal to the most 
bigoted, from the most philanthropic to * the most selfish, from 
the most spiritual to the most temporal, all of which are kindly 
answered — are reported and printed in chronological order. 
Also, essentially the same questions occur over and over again, 
and there is no concordant conception of the meaning, or sys- 
tematic application of the words soul, spirit, mind, intellect, &c, 
on the part of either the questioners or of those who give the re- 
sponses. All these things conspire to make the repetition and 
re-repetition of many replies that are almost identical, neces- 
sary to a fair presentation of all that has been taught. The 
work is a medley — necessarily so ; and it is a truncated med- 
ley, cut squarely to date at each end. A satisfactory condensa- 
tion was attempted, but has not been accomplished. The 
compiler's success falls far below his aim. 

The Compiler's Reflections. 

Many scores of bright intelligences, who carried with them 
some one and some another of the various and conflicting 
creeds of earth as talisman or panoply when they passed through 
the portals of death, are coming back, clad with the authority 
of personal observation and experience in spirit life, and 
unitedly teaching that all faiths in special creeds are now 
hinderances instead of helps to their happiness and progress, 
and that man's only useful and his all-sufficient religion is 
simply the keeping himself unspotted from the world, and 
doing justly by others, in the most plain and common sense 
way possible. They are teaching that all punishments and all 
rewards are natural results from universal and ever-acting 
forces. Protestants of various sects, Roman Catholics, Jews, 
Turks, Arabs, Chinamen, Indians, and many others, dwelling 
in |he life beyond, transiently reincarnate themselves, and, 



14 PREFACE. 

from amid the light of their experiences, respond to man's in- 
quiries. And they all teach, substantially, that each man can 
read his own future destiny, his retribution beyond the grave, 
in the single fact, dissevered from all qualifying or smothering 
interpretations, that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
•also reap/' They teach that the reign of law is co-extensive 
with eternity and infinity. Such is the gospel revealed by these 
Flashes of Light from the Spirit Land, — an inspired gospel 
of plain, liberal common sense, come to grapple for victory or 
death with the mystical and cramping dogmas of Christen- 
dom, not with the essence, but with the perversions of Chris- 
tianity. 

When and where in the world's past history did man receive 
so methodical, prolonged and copious an efflux of illumination 
from beyond the veil, as this which is still streaming forth at 
the Banner circles? At what other spot have so many differ- 
ent disrobed intelligences promulgated here, knowledge gained 
by personal experiences, and unfoldments in the hereafter? 
What other set of human vocal organs than Mrs. Conant's ever 
felt the touch, responded to the call, and subserved the will of 
near ten thousand different spirits in their distinct utterance of 
messages back to man? Where else have the names and for- 
mer residences of so many travellers backward bound, ever 
been registered as at the Banner Circle Room ? 

This age does not see, need not see. probably cannot see 
the power and beneficence of the Banner band of spirits. The 
Banner is now a prophet in its own age and country. Both 
the legitimate action and the enchantments of distance and 
time are essential to just admeasurements of the importance 
and influence of truths. Future generations may trace the 
origin of . momentous reformations in the creeds, ceremo- 
. nials, habits, customs, moralities and governments of man- 
kind to the doctrines, advice and aid which ascended spirits 
are now furnishing. The time will come — and it is not in 
the very far future — - when the world will have learned that 
the inspirations and "mighty works" now transpiring in our 
midst are as divine, as miraculous, as immediately the produc- 



PREFACE. * 15 

tions of the infinite Power, as those of any former age. Mod- 
ern Spiritualism will make and mark a brilliant epoch in 
human history, and the Banner of Light will be one of the 
most extended and authentic records of its early evolvements. 
Has the compiler been standing on holy ground, and culling 
flashes of light from a u burning bush " ? Be that as it may, 
while his pen was recording the above meditations and pro- 
phetic gleams, a solemn sense of the possibility that many in 
the distant future may regard these cullings as oracles from 
above, use them as lights to illumine the darkness of earth, and 
disclose the paths of virtues whose fruits will be heavenly peace, 
— a solemn sense of such a possibility seemed to give him, 
through these pages, a possible connection with generations to 
come, and caused him to invoke from the Father of Light 
such illumination of the minds of his present and future chil- 
dren on the earth that they may at once discern and eschew 
whatever may be false or baneful, and discover and appropri- 
ate whatever may be true and healthful in these Flashes. 

Allen Putnam. 

April 13, 1872. 



NAMES OP THE SPEAKERS. 



The Banner circles are under the charge of Theodore Par- 
ker, who is the most frequent speaker, yet often is relieved by 
some substitute. During the period within which the contents 
of the present volume were spoken, he was aided by the 
twenty-five spirits whose names, when in the earth life, were 
these, viz. : — 



Ballou, Rev. Hosea, 
Beri, Rabbi Joshual, 
Channing, Rev. W. E., 
Cheverus, Cardinal, 
Davy, Sir Humphrey, 
Dayton, Prof. Edgar C, 
Dow, Rev. Lorenzo, 
Fairchild, Rev. Joy H., 
Fenwick, Bishop, 
Fitzjames, Father Henry, 
Fitzpatrick, Bishop, 
Fuller, Rev. Arthur, 
Ka-da Ab-dal, 



Hare, Prof. Robert, 
Howard, Lewis, 
Hubbard, Prof. John, 
King, Rev. T. Starr, 
Kneeland, Abner, 
Lowenthal, Rabbi Joseph, 
Murray, Rev. John, 
Parker, Rev. Theodore, 
Paine, Thomas, 
Pierpont, Rev. John, 
Redman, Geo. A., medium, 
Stowe, Rev. Phineas, 
Ware, Rev. Henry. 

16 



APPENDIX TO PKEFACE. 



Request was made that a few Invocations in verse, uttered 
at the public circles, and some poetical effusions, through the 
same organism, at other places, should be included in this 
volume. They could have no fitting place among Questions 
and Answers, and are made an Appendix here. 

INVOCATION. 

Holy angels, guide these mortals 

O'er the mystic waves of time ; 
Open wide the shining portals 

Leading unto heights sublime ; 
Lift, O lift the veil that hides them 

From their loved ones, gone before ! 
Show them but their shining faces, 

Waiting on the other shore. 



CHRISTMAS INVOCATION. 

O Thou, whose mysterious presence 

Fills the earth, the air and sea, 
We would chant undying praises, 

We would worship only thee. 

From the earth's unnumbered altars 
Human sighs and tears are born, 

Praying for a glad hereafter — 
Weary watchers in the storm. 

Let them hear the chime of voices — 

Voices from the spirit-land — 
Waking all the slumbering echoes, 

Strengthening heart and strengthening hand. 
2 17 



18 APPENDIX TO PREFACE, 

Let them see the star of promise 
That shall lead to brighter days, 

Over all the plains of error, 

Where the babe of Bethlehem lays. 

Let them sing that holy anthem, 
Sung by angels long ago, — 

" Peace on earth, good will from Heaven," 
Golden side of human woe. 

Then the night shall grow to morning, 
Then the angels join the song, 

For the day of peace is dawning; 
Lo ! the Son of Truth is born ! 



INVOCATION. 

thou source of endless wisdom, 
Lord of earth and land Elysian, 
We would bathe our weary spirits 
In the fullness of thy love. 

We would drink the healing waters 
Flowing from unnumbered altars, — 
Altars where no blood-stained offerings 
Fill the earth with woe. 

We would rise redeemed, redeeming, 
Losing all our earthly seeming, 
In the holy words, forgiveness 
Of all earthly sin. 

We would dwell with saints and sages, 
Whose great thoughts have thrilled past ages, 
Calling all men to adore thee, 
Lord of heaven and earth. 

Hear our prayer, ye guardian angels ; 
Be to us as brighCevangels, 
Bearing our poor sin-stained message 
To the throne of love. 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 19 



INVOCATION. 

O God of all nations ! O light of our souls ! 
Whose loving hand guides us, whose wisdom controls, 
Through the weakness, and darkness, and sorrows of time, 
O lead these thy children to soul-heights sublime. 
Let us teach them to love thee and serve thee aright, 
Never fearing the darkness, yet loving the light ; 
Never doubting thy presence, ever trusting thy grace, 
To give to each soul its true portion and place. 

And unto thee, God of our life, be the homage and honor 
of nations and individuals, forever. Amen. 



INVOCATION. 

O Thou, whose love prevaileth 

Over all the ills of life, 
Whose mercy never faileth 

When we are weary of the strife 
That comes of human weakness, — 

By some called human sin, — 
Whose wisdom opens heaven's gates, 

That all may enter in ; 
We would sing thee glad hosannas, 

We would join the earth and air 
In their everlasting chorus, 

And their one eternal prayer. 
For all that life can give us, 

For all that hath been given, 
For every tear of sorrow, 

And every hope of heaven, 
We thank thee, O, our God. 



INVOCATION. 

O Spirit of mercy, of justice, and love, 
O'ershadow thy children with peace from above ; 
•Let the phantoms of fear, of doubt and despair, 
Be lost in the radiance of spiritual air ; 



20 APPENDIX TO- PREFACE. 

Let the songs of the angels be heard in the skies, 
Proclaiming the truth that the soul never dies ; 
That all things are carefully guarded by thee, 
But the soul in its beauty at death is set free. 



CHRISTMAS INVOCATION. 

O God, our God ! 
Faint and weary are thy children. 

Toiling up the steep of time, 
Seeking for the Eastern token, 

Listening for the morning chime ; 
Waiting, waiting, ever waiting 

For the voice of long ago, 
With its soft, melodious accents, 

Soothing every human woe. 
Know they not the star has risen, 

And its glory gilds the earth ? 
Hear they not the song of angels 

O'er this glorious second birth ? 
" Peace on earth ! good will from Heaven ! " 

Sing that white-robed angel band ; 
" Peace on earth ! good will from Heaven ! " 

Echoes over all the land. 
O thou God of past and present ! 

O thou light of every soul ! 
We will chant thee deathless praises 

While eternity shall roll. 



The following poem, portraying a singular Indian custom, 
was given through Mrs. J. H. Conant, in the Melodeon, in this 
city, Sunday evening, March 11, 1866. 

The poem was composed in spirit-life, and delivered by 
Metoka, mother of Winona, the subject of the poem, and wife 
of the sachem Wanandago, whose hunting-grounds, over two 
hundred years ago, included the territory on which the city of 
Boston is built, and his wigwam was at the brow of the hill 
where the State House now stands. 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 21 

The chairman read a brief legend, furnished by an Indian 
spirit, which explains the custom that often doomed the fairest 
daughters of the red man to a cruel fate, as follows : — 

u The white man has customs ; so has the Indian. What 
the Indian thinks right, the white man thinks wrong. What 
the white man thinks right, the Indian thinks wrong. Many 
moons ago, where the white man now hunts his game, the In- 
dian hunted his. Your big books will tell you that. When 
any two or more tribes were at war, the weaker, after two 
suns' fasting, would come together in council, led by a sachem, 
to see what the Great Spirit would tell them to do with their 
young squaws (for it was the custom of the conquering tribe 
to make slaves of all the young squaws, killing the old, who 
should fall into their hands). At the rising of the sun, after 
the council had been held all night, it was the custom to call 
the fairest squaw of the tribe and give her the right to choose 
between death at the hands of her nearest kin, or the risk of 
being captured and enslaved by the conquering tribe. Her 
decision was believed to be the voice of the Great Spirit, from 
which there was no appeal. 

" Winona, the subject of the simple poem which follows 
this introductory, was the first-born of the house of Wanan- 
dago, who was at the time sachem * of the tribe. The hunt- 
ing-grounds of this tribe were here, where your many wigwams 
now stand ; and the wigwam of the sachem was at the brow 
of the hill where your great wigwam of council now stands. 
When the white man came from over the water, he hunted the 
Indian's game, and gave him no return. He planted his corn 
on the sacred mounds of the Indian, and shed no tears — but 
he gave him his fire-water ! And so the Indian grew hot 
against the white man, and he determined to make war with 
him. It was then the Great Spirit spoke to Winona, and the 
arrow of Wanandago sent her to the land of sunshine and clear 
water, where Metoka, the fair squaw of Wanandago had gone 
at the coming of Winona." 

* The word sachem, with the Indian, means prophet, or spiritual 
leader. 



22 APPENDIX TO PREFACE, 

Then Metoka, in clear tones, poured forth, in sweet, musical 
cadences, the story of 

THE INDIAN MAIDEN WINONA. 

In the sunlight, in the starlight, 

In the moons of long ago — 
Ere the virgin soil of Shawmut 

Quivered 'neath the white man's plow ; 

Ere the great lakes and the rivers 
Listened to the white man's song ; 

Ere the Father of all 1 Waters 

Bore them in his strong arms on ; 

On from distant lands and wigwams, 
Where the sun from slumber comes, 

Where the warriors hear the war whoop 
In the voices of the drums, 

Lived W x inona — child of Nature ! 

First-born, beauteous, dark-browed maid, 
At whose coming fair Metoka, 

Where the flowers bloom, was laid. 

Grew Winona, strong and beauteous, 
Fairer than the flowers of spring ; 

And the echo of her sweet voice 
Made the hills and valleys ring. 

Did the red deer pass her wigwam, 
Soon it quivered on the plain — 
For the arrow of Winona 



Sixteen times the snow had fallen, 
Sixteen times the sun grew dim, 

Since the warriors and the maidens 
Sung Metoka' s funeral hymn. 

Then the strange voice of the white man 
Rang through all our hunting-grounds ; 

And their swift feet never faltered 

When they neared our sacred mounds ! 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 23 

All our game their long guns hunted, 

Quickly making it their own ; 
Heeding not the maiden's sighing, 

Fearing not the warrior's frown ! 

Then the voice of Wanandago 

Fell in accents soft and low, 
Asking, would the fair Winona 

To the land of sunlight go ? 

Quick the answer came, like shadows 

Filling all his. soul with night — 
" I will go, O mighty sachem, 

Where the sky is always bright ; 

"Where our hunting-grounds are greater; 

Where the water s always clear ; 
Where the spirits of our fathers 

Chant the red man's hymn of cheer ! " 

Soon the warriors and the maidens 

Sing again their funeral song ! 
For the spirit of Winona 

To the land of light was borne ! 

But to-night she comes to greet you, 

Comes in meekness, comes in love ; 
And with gentle hands would lead you 

To that land of light above ; 

Where no white man robs the Indian ; 

Where no more the sun grows dim ; 
Where the warriors and the maidens 

Chant no more their funeral hymn ; 

In that land where stars are brighter, 

Where the moonbeams softly fall, 
And the great Manito's blessing 

Like the sunlight's over all ; 

There the Indian holds his council, 

And his thoughts grow great and strong — 

As the angels teach forgiveness 

For the white man's fearful wrong. 



24 APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 

Here his tomahawk and arrows 

Rest beneath your wigwams grand ; 

There his soul drinks in the wisdom 
Of the glorious spirit-land. 

Fare you well, ye pale-faced mortals, 
Till in council you shall stand 

Face to face with fair Winona 
In the Indian's Morning-Land. 



INDIAN SPIRITS' LEVEE. 

A pleasant affair took place, a few evenings since, in 
Watertown, at the residence of Mr. Charles H. Crowell 
(Kanagawah Lodge — so named by Indian spirit-friends), at 
present the home of Mrs. J. H. Conant. Shortly after Mrs. 
Conant located there, her Indian spirit-friends, who have en- 
joyed the privilege for years of communicating to mortals 
through her organism, expressed a desire to give some of their 
" pale-faced " friends a reception at the lodge. Consent being 
given, the time assigned for the gathering was Friday, August 
17, 1866; and a select company of between 50 and 60 ladies 
and gentlemen responded to the invitation. Shortly after the 
friends had assembled in the drawing-room, Mrs. Conant was 
entranced by 

Winona, a young Indian girl (subject of the poem given by 
Metoha, through Mrs. Conant, at the Melodeon last March), 
who greeted each one of the party in her peculiar manner, and 
then quietly retired, to give 

Starlight, another Indian girl, an opportunity to greet the 
" pale-faces " present. She was very modest and retiring in 
her manners, winning the hearts of all. She was known in 
earth-life as Naonta, and was educated at an English school 
in Canada. She is said to have been very beautiful. To this 
spirit was granted the privilege of welcoming the guests, which 
was gracefully done in the following characteristic Indian 
style : — 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 25 

" Pale-faces, Naonta, in behalf of her people, welcomes you 
to the lodge of the Indians. Their hearts are warm towards 
you, and their hands are full of blessings. May yours be so 
towards them. They meet you from the mountains and the 
valleys, from the lakes and the rivers, and they ask to learn 
of you, and in turn will teach you much of the great hunting- 
ground, where you must come when you sleep as they have. 
When Naonta has gone, Metoka will come, greeting you with 
her singing talk." 

All hearts seemed touched with the simplicity and beauty of 
this brief address, and evidently wished to hear more from 
her ; but she gave way to the sprightly and loquacious 

Spring flower, who chatted in the liveliest manner with u the 
squaws and braves" for some time. Then bidding them 
u good moon," she retired, when the calm and dignified 

Metoka, mother of Winona, assumed control, and gave 
utterance to the following 



POEM. 

Like the music of the waters, 
Like the sighing of the trees, 

Like some soft and gentle whisper 
Floating on the evening breeze, 

Come the dead, the long departed, 

To the island of the blest, 
Breathing forth unnumbered blessings, 

Telling of a land of rest. 

Not the rest that knows no action, 
Like the silence of the tomb, 

But the rest that comes from toiling, 
Toiling for the yet to come. 

Come they when your fires are lighted, 
Lighted on your wigwam walls, 

And their dew of inspiration 
Over every spirit falls, — 



26 APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 

Falls like moonlight on the waters, 
With a soft and silvery light, 

Or like starlight through the shadows, 
Robbing of its gloom the night. 

From the lakes and from the rivers, 
Over plains and mountains tall, 

Many braves and many maidens 
Come in answer to your call. 

Are they welcome to your wigwam ? 

Will your kindly greeting fall, 
Like your winter's spotless blanket, 

Over black, and red, and all ? 

When the Lodge of Kanagawah 

Breathes its blessings far and wide, - 

Over mountains, over valleys, 
Over death's resistless tide, — 

Then the great Manitou's blessing 
Enters at the open door, 

And your dead, the long departed, 
Fold you in their arms once more. 
August, 1866. 



THE STAR OF HOPE. 

[dedicated to telular,* the star of kanagawah lodge, 
by mrs. hemans.] 

Bright star of hope ! still let your beams 

Of radiant beauty, shine 
Upon the enfranchised souls who dwell 

Beyond the stream of time. 

* " Telular " is the name Mrs. Conant received from her Indian 
spirit-friends. With the Indian it means a something to see by or 
through. " Kanagawah Lodge " is the name the Indians have given 
Mrs. Conant's present home at Watertown. ;; Kanagawah " signifies 
teacher ; and as Mrs. Conant has done much towards enlightening and 
elevating the Indians, it will be readily perceived that the name is not 
inappropriate. 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 27 

O, give to them your hand of love 

Across the rolling flood, 
And lead them back, through Nature's bowers, 

To wisdom and to God. 

Fling back the. shadows by your light, 

As Moses smote the rock, 
Till every soul within your sphere 

Shall feel the mighty shock, 

Enter within the cypress shade, 

And rob it of its gloom, 
Gilding with radiance all divine 

The portals of the tomb. 

Stand close beside the parting soul, 

Who fears to cross the tide, 
Leading beyond all earthly pain, 

Where loving friends abide. 

Strengthen the weak and wounded souls 

Who falter in the way, 
And lead them back to wisdom's path 

By truth's unerring ray. 

Be thou a guide, a beacon light, 

To wanderers on the shore ; 
And be contented with thy lot 

Forever — evermore. 

So shall your heaven on earth begin 

By every deed of love, 
While angels sing your song of praise 

In worlds of light above. 

Banner, August 18, 1866. 



ANNA CORA WILSON. 

" Birdie," the lovely spirit-daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. 
B. Wilson, who has manifested several times on previous 
occasions, after obtaining control of the medium, took up a 
bouquet of delicate flowers that lay upon the table, and turn- 



28 APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 

ing to her mother, who sat near by, placed her hand on her 
head, stooped down, and kissing her fervently, said, " Dear 
mother, I thank you for these beautiful flowers. " She then 
proceeded to address her in the following touchingly signifi- 
cant lines : — 

" BIRDIE'S " POEM. 

I sleep not, dear mother, where daisies bloom, 
And wild birds warble their hymns of praise ; 

Where the stars look down through the silent gloom, 
And the cypress nods to the passing breeze. 

No, no ; I am living beyond the tomb, 

Where the shadows of time no longer fall, 

Where the angel Death has never come, 
For eternal life is the gift to all. 

Yet I have not left you ; I am not dead, 

Though a voice is missed from the trio band, — 

Though tenantless stands my little bed, 

And you miss the clasp of " Birdie's" hand. 

I am living, and loving, and waiting for you 

In my beautiful home on the other side, 
Where legions of angels, with fond hearts and true, 

Are waiting for loved ones to cross the tide. 

Through the long, dreary hours of sadness and pain, 
When your brow with the tempest of fever was tossed, 

Your " Birdie " was with you ; yes, with you again ; 

Though the world in its blindness says " Birdie" is lost. 



The following lines were addressed to Mrs. L. B. Wilson 
(Cora's mother), in tones of endearing affection, accompanied 
with such tender caresses as to give living evidence that the 
spirit, after leaving its mortal form, retains all its love for 
those it left on earth : — 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 29 



A POEM BY "BIRDIE" (Anna Cora Wilson). 

Mother, dear mother ! from the land of the blest, 
Where the earth-weary spirit finds comfort and rest, 
I have come with my buds and blossoms so sweet, 
And I lay them, as soul-gifts, at your tired feet. 

Be joyous, dear mother, and banish the clouds, 
And linger no longer 'mid cypress and shrouds ; 
But lift up your eyes to that fair land of rest, 
Where Cora, your " Birdie," has builded your nest. 



The four following effusions were from " Birdie," through 
Mrs. Conant : — 

SONG OF THE AUTUMN WIND. 

I come, I come, my watch to keep 

On the cold New England shore — 
To diamonds sow where the flowers grew, 

And the summer winds sing no more. 

I wail and I weep where the daisies sleep, 

On the graves of your early dead ; 
And I sing a low song through the tall pine trees, 

O'er the soldier's nameless bed. 

I chant a sad strain, or a wild refrain, 

Through every city and town ; 
And I chase the green leaves from all the trees, 

Or I change their greenness to brown. 

I roar on the mountains, I bind all the fountains, 

And enter the poor man's home ; 
While the babe lies sleeping, and the mother sits 
weeping, 

I join in her cry of alone — all alone ! 

Then I speed away o'er the ocean's spray, 
Where the loved and lost are sleeping ; 

Where Neptune's band, with relentless hand, 
Their watch of death are keeping. 



30 APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 

I kiss the pale cheek, in that lone retreat, 
While the sea-birds are loudly screaming ; 

Where life and death have together met, 
And the sleeper knows no dreaming. 

I scatter the snows, as every one knows, 

Like a carpet of silver sheen, 
And I bind all the streams with glittering chains, 

Where once the lilies have been. 

Farewell ! farewell ! I go — I go 
From the cold New England shore ; 

For the Winter winds have begun to blow, 
And the Autumn leaves fall no more ! 

For, far away, over river and bay, 

In my home beyond the sea, 
The mild-eyed seal and swift gazelle 

Are keeping their watch for me. 



BIRDIE'S LAST OF EARTH. 

Hushed were the voices and muffled the tread 
Of kind friends who lingered near " Birdie's " death-bed ; 
But they saw not the angels who entered unheard, 
And dipped in heaven's chalice the wings of their bird. 

And they whispered so soft that you heard not a sound — 
" Come, Birdie, your wings shall no longer be bound ! " 
Then, quick as the eagle's eye drinks in the light, 
Your Birdie was free from mortality's night. 

And now from the heights of Eternity's plains, 

From the land where Death comes not, and Night never 

reigns, 
Your Birdie returns, on swift pinions of love, 
With fresh-gathered buds from her bright home above. 

When the world, in its coldness, says, " Birdie's dead," 
O tell them, dear mother, I've only been led, 
By the hands of the angels, away from the night, 
Away from earth's darkness to heaven's clear light. 



APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 31 



BIRDIE'S NEST. 



In the bowers of love supernal 
There your Birdie's built her nest, 

For the Father s hand eternal 
Led her from the earth's unrest. 

Hear you not my song of gladness, 
Swelling o'er life's troubled sea ? 

Surely then it were but madness, 
E'er to mourn my loss to thee. 

I have gained a deathless morning — 
All my mortal woes are o'er, 

And the angels now are crowning 
Me with gems from heaven's store. 

Cease your mourning, dearest mother, 
Let tears no more for Birdie fall ; 

God is love — there is no other — 
And His mercy's over all. 

When the shades of Death are falling, 
And your mortal day is o'er, 

And you hear the angels calling 

You from earth to our bright shore — 

Then your Birdie's song of welcome 
All your fears shall chase away, 

And the bitter buds of morning 
Blossom into endless day. 

November 9, 1863. 



BIRDIE'S VIGIL. 

I am here, dearest mother, though the summer has flown, 

And the roses their beauty have shed ; 
For the world in its blindness determines alone, 

That the soul in its freedom, is dead ! 



32 APPENDIX TO PREFACE. 

I am here to watch over and keep you from harm, 
To guide you from darkness to light ; 

I am here, and I'll wait till the morning bells chime, 
Proclaiming the end of the night. 

And then through the bright shining way of the stars, 
Where the saints and the angels have trod, 

I will lead you away from the earth and its cares, 
To the spiritual temple of God. 



FLASHES OF LIGHT 

FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
By Joseph Lowenthal, of Jewish Faith, Sept. 3, 1867. 

Question, Do children who leave this earth-plane in 
infancy progress in stature the same as if they had contin- 
ued to live on earth ? 

Answer. The law of physical life determines concern- 
ing the stature or external form that is given to every soul ; 
and as souls generally remain very near the earth and 
its laws, until they have gained a certain amount of ex- 
perience, which can be gained from no other plane than 
the earth-plane, they are under this law, and do grow 
in stature precisely the same as they would had they 
remained on earth to mature age. 

By John Pierpont, Sept. 5, 1867. 

Q. On earth, to a great, if not absolute extent, 
we are bound in the channels of phrenological or heredi- 
tary bias, often of a very unfortunate character. Does 
death remove these restrictions, and confer the freedom to 
expand in all directions, not continuing man, as here, 
3 33 



34 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

an exile from many beautiful arts and accomplishments, 
because the power of gift for their acquisition was not 
in the germ at birth ? 

A. Man slowly acquires a state of perfect freedom. 
If he were suddenly ushered into a state of perfect free- 
dom in the spirit-land, he would not know how to use 
it ; therefore the Universal Disposer of all events has 
taken care of this. All the steps in life are gradual 
and well proportioned. You must press every round in 
the ladder of progress in order to be fully rounded in the 
physical, in the mental, and in the spiritual. 

Q. Are all souls in spirit-life satisfied with the pros- 
pect of a boundless, eternal existence, or do some desire 
oblivion there, as misery makes some seek it here? 

A. As happiness and unhappiness belong strictly to 
the spirit — to the thinking power of the individual, so 
this condition of happiness or unhappiness it carries with 
it to the spirit-land ; it is part of its possessions there. 
Therefore there must be some souls who would desire 
oblivion, if it were possible to be bestowed upon them. 
There are some who are so miserable in the spirit-land 
that they would fain curse God and die. But even these 
unhappy souls are not outside the law of progress ; and 
by and by, when they shall be made able to perceive that 
there is a better way, and that the way is open for them 
to ascend from their hell and enter heaven, as for all 
others — if they can perceive the truth of this, they will 
embrace it, and rapidly ascend out of darkness into light. 

Q. Can the pure and sinless, as infants, appreciate 
and enjoy heaven as highly as those who have known 
life's conflicts and trials? 

A. Well, the infant's heaven is just as perfect a 
heaven as the heaven of mature age. The infairt can 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 35 

enjoy just as large an amount of heaven, according to 
its own life, as mature age. It is only a different condi- 
tion of the same element — happiness. 

By Theodore Parker. Sept. 9, 1867. 

Q. Will the intelligence give his opinion of the 
following text? 

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, w r ent up straight- 
way out of the water, and lo ! the heavens were opened 
unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a 
dove and lighting upon him, and lo ! a voice from heaven, 
saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am w r ell 
pleased." 

A. There can be but one rational opinion concerning 
that text, it seems to us. It is a well-known fact, or it 
is generally believed by those who claim to have a knowl- 
edge of the manifestations of spirits disembodied, that 
Jesus was a medium for such manifestations ; that his 
entire life was but a series of spirit manifestations. He 
seemed to stand with one foot upon the spirit-shores and 
the other here, and there was a perfect distribution of 
spiritual power through his organization. The record 
tells us that the heavens were opened, and he saw the 
spirit of God, like a dove, descending upon him, and he 
heard a voice, saying, K This is my beloved son." Well, 
why not? The spirit of God performs like so-called 
miracles even to-day, and has performed them in every 
age, for in every age there have been ears attuned to 
spirit-voices ; there have been eyes that could perceive 
spirit-forms ; there have been those, in their physical 
senses, who could take cognizance of the conditions of 
spirit-life. Now, as Jesus possessed a highly developed 
physical and spiritual organization, or, in other words, as 
he was perfectly rounded in spiritual and in physical 



36 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

form, so then he would be well able to receive perfect 
manifestations from the world of mind. We believe it 
to be but a spirit manifestation precisely similar to the 
manifestations that have occurred in every age, and that 
are occurring on a very large scale in this age. 

Q. Will the controlling intelligence please to tell us 
why spirits do not give their whole names when asked so 
to do while communicating through test mediums? They 
will give their first name, but seldom give the surname, 
when, if the whole name were given, it would give much 
better satisfaction to sceptical people. 

A. All spirit is obliged to use the medium of matter 
in communicating upon the plane of matter. You use 
the body which you call your own. It is your medium, 
and by long assimilation you have become thoroughly 
used to its control. You know how to use it. It has 
become in the external a part of your spirit, because all 
the manifestations of your spirit have been to a certain 
extent done with the medium, the body; therefore, 
through this medium you can more perfectly manifest as 
a spirit, than through any other. By and by death 
comes. It cuts the cord that bound you to the medium, 
the body. The golden bowl is .broken, the cord is 
destroyed, or cut asunder, but the fountain of life re- 
mains. Now, then, if the fountain would manifest again 
upon the earthly plane, it must seek out a medium ; and 
your own good sense will tell you that unless the medium 
could be used for many times by the spirit, and become 
perfectly assimilated with it, the manifestations must be 
more or less imperfect. If the spirit can but manifest 
imperfectly through the medium that Nature has furnished 
it, — your own bodies, namely, — then surely you should 
not expect perfect manifestations through a medium that 



FROM THE SP1RIT-LAXD. 37 

is simply taken up for the occasion. Spirits labor under 
a great many more disadvantages in returning to manifest 
here after death than you have any idea of. When they 
return, they are suddenly ushered back again to the world 
they had been taken from, and a thousand — -'perhaps ten 
thousand times ten thousand — things, thoughts, forms, 
conditions, press upon them, and their medium is imper- 
fect ; consequently they find their work very hard, and 
they struggle, O, how earnestly and laboriously some- 
times, to give even one word. Names are hard to give ; 
first, for this reason : When the sitter comes into rapport 
with the medium and the spirit who has a desire to pos- 
sess the medium and to manifest through it, the first, 
most intense, and most positive thought of the sitter is 
the name of the party that is to control. It is perfectly 
natural that this should be first ; that it should occupy 
the most prominent seat in the realm of thought, but its 
naturalness does not prevent it from being the greatest 
barrier to the giving of the name that could possibly be 
interposed. If it were possible for the sitter to render 
his mind entirely passive to what might come, the mani- 
festations would be far more reliable, and names would 
come much easier. Why is it that there is scarcely any 
difficulty in giving names at this place ? Now ask your- 
self the question as I have asked it. Is it not because 
you do not know who is coming? Because you have no 
expectation of what name is to be given? Surely it is. 
If you expected Edward Everett to speak to you on a 
certain occasion, all your minds would be possessed with 
the name of Edward Everett, and it would be almost 
impossible for him to give the name. He might identify 
himself in a thousand other ways, but to give the name 
would be hard. All persons who are in the habit of 



38 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

visiting mediums, should remember there is a great law- 
go verning all spirit manifestations. It governs you in 
the control of your own body. That is your medium 
while you are here. The great law holds good after you 
have left that body. If you desire to return through 
some other body, there is the law meeting you face to 
face. You cannot infringe upon it, cannot put it under 
your feet. It is there greater than you are, and you 
must obey it. And the nearer you come to an under- 
standing of the law governing spirit manifestations, the 
better will be the manifestations, and the more perfect 
and satisfactory. But the further you are from an under- 
standing of the law, the more vague will be the manifes- 
tations, and the more unsatisfactory. Therefore become 
students, every one of you. Enter the school of spiritual 
science, and there study day after day, year after year, 
if need be, till you shall be able to grapple with the law 
understandingly. Even then you cannot control it, but 
you will know how to take advantage of it, or, in other 
words, to act in harmony with it. The law is constantly 
by you. You cannot separate yourself from it, not in 
any one thought or act. Therefore, whether living here, 
or living as your speaker lives after death, it matters not ; 
the law is clear, and obey it you must. And if the law 
says it is hard to give a name that is registered upon the 
mind of the sitter, then the law must be obeyed. There 
is no going around it nor through it. You must bow 
down before it. 

By Joseph Lowenthal a Jew, and George A. Redman, 
Sept. 10, 1867. 

Q. We often see through personating mediums the 
death scene, as we call it, so faithfully enacted, that it 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 39 

seems but a repetition of the same thing. Now, what I 
wish to know is this : How is it so faithfully reproduced ? 
Is the departing spirit conscious all the time enough to 
remember so definitely all those motions of the physical ? 
I have always thought there was a time when most, if not 
all, were unconscious — at the time of change, or im- 
mediately after. Is it so? 

A. The soul never for one instant loses its conscious- 
ness — that which belongs to it as an immortal soul. 
But it is sometimes shut out from the experiences of 
human life by the circumstances that surround itself, and 
attend human life. Therefore it is that it is sometimes 
unconscious to external circumstances, but never in the 
absolute unconscious of its own soul realities. These 
repetitions of scenes, called scenes of death, are easily 
produced, because they make a very vivid and very clear 
impression upon the mind of every spirit. Though in the 
external there is no consciousness, in the internal the 
spirit is conscious and active, and the recording angel 
never fails to take down the most minute circumstances. 
Everything is faithfully transcribed, and therefore can be, 
under proper circumstances, reproduced. These mediums 
are mirrors that seem to be hung between the two states 
of being, and if the surface is clear, the reflection will be 
.correspondingly clear; but if it is spotted, the reflection 
will be correspondingly deformed. 

Q. from one of the audience. I would ask what is 
the recording angel ? 

A. It is sometimes called memory. That name or 
term may answer as well as any other. You have often 
been told that the attribute of memory was eternal ; that 
whatever condition the soul passed through, that condition 
it retained by virtue of the power of memory, and under 



40 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

certain circumstances it was able to call it up again into 
active life. The circumstances through which every soul 
is called to pass, become the external characteristics of 
that soul, and no one thing, even the most minute, is ever 
lost. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 12, 1867. 

Q. Do all spirits who have left the human form, 
after they arrive in the world of spirits, have the power 
to communicate through mediums here, or do only those 
who were the most mediumistic while here in the form 
have the power to communicate? 

A.. Those who were the most mediumistic while here, 
have the most power in making these mundane manifes- 
tations. However, it is a gift that all may avail them- 
selves of, if they seek so to do. 

Q. by one of the audience. The saying is, that 
like attracts like. Still we do find the opposite some- 
times. What are the causes that attract spirits to 
persons of an entirely opposite character? 

A. The causes are legion. It would be impossible to 
enumerate them. Sometimes a disembodied intelligence or 
spirit is attracted to a subject or medium in consequence 
of the external surroundings — surroundings that are in 
no way connected with the medium. Sometimes it is in 
consequence of some physical ailment, sometimes the 
contrary. Sometimes the quiet mind of the subject 
attracts them, sometimes the turbulent mind. Indeed, 
the causes that are in constant operation to attract all 
classes of spirits earthward are innumerable. 

Spirit. A query has come to us, as emanating 
from the late National Convention at Cleveland, and it 
is this : w What do higher intelligences in the spirit-land 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 41 

believe concerning the manifestations of the Davenports 
and other mediums through whom similar manifestations 
are given? Are they genuine spirit-manifestations, or 
are they jugglery? " Well, whatever your speaker might 
assert, would be simply an assertion. Whatever belief 
belongs to him, as a spirit, belongs exclusively to him. 
Therefore whatever opinion is offered belongs also to him, 
and he alone is responsible for it. The manifestations 
given through the Davenports, and other so-called phys- 
ical mediums, are, in the majority, genuine and orspirit- 
ual origin. And whoso desire to understand this thing 
for themselves, have only to put the manifestations in one 
scale and their reason in the other, and the solution will 
come as a natural sequence. 

These or analogous manifestations have had existence 
throughout every condition of intelligent being. There 
has never been a time in the history of the world when 
these so-called physical manifestations have not been in 
existence in some form or some peculiar phase, f It is 
absolute folly, and betrays the sheerest ignorance on the 
part of those who deny their genuineness, or assume that 
they are entirely dependent upon trickery, jugglery, or 
whatever like term you may see fit to employ. I say it 
betrays ignorance, and still more, it betrays a certain 
something which is akin to church bigotry ; for there are 
other bigots than theological bigots, and quite as many 
bigots in Spiritualism as in any other ism.] We are 
sorry to be obliged to affirm this so forcibly, but it is 
absolutely true. We will go still further, and declare 
that there are more bigots among those who have come 
out from the churches, and declared themselves free from 
all kinds of bigotry, than there are to be found in the 
churches. The Presbyterian is bound hand and foot by a 



42 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

certain kind of belief, and he sticks to it, in most cases, 
very rigidly. Spiritualists are bound in the self-same 
way, for we find them here, there, and everywhere setting 
up certain very rigid standards of their own, and declaring 
that they are absolutely right, and there is no appeal 
from their standard. They have got the highest, the 
best, and the only genuine Spiritualism, when the truth 
is, the churches have had experience in it, and those who 
have no belief in any kind of God have had it. It is as 
free as the air.. It is extensive as life. Spiritualism 
means something more than what is bound up in the sim- 
ple name. It means the science of life. It means that 
life God manifests through every kind of form, through 
every possible degree of thought. It means that God 
can rap upon a table to convince you that you will live 
after death, and not degrade himself, as he can speak 
through the highest angel in the courts of heaven. Spir- 
itualism of itself is humble. It takes upon itself no 
crowns. It is exceedingly simple. A child may under- 
stand it. j But they who prate so loudly against these 
lower manifestations, as they are pleased to term them, 
simply betray their ignorance — ignorance of God and 
his laws, ignorance of the alphabet of life.- They would 
fain destroy the ladder over which they have ascended, 
because, forsooth, they need it no longer, or because they 
have entered the temple by some other way, though 
thousands and tens of thousands have need to enter it 
this way. They, in their foolishness, determine that God 
doesn't understand his business, and because he doesn't, 
they are going to guide the car of progress for them- 
selves. But poor, puny humanity will find by and by 
that God is God, despite all forms and ceremonies, and 
he descends to the simplest manifestations of life without 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 43 

losing his Godship. He blooms in the violet, is heard 
in the tiny rappings. His voice is in the thunder, and 
his wisdom with the angels. He is everywhere. 

Yes, these manifestations are, in the majority, genuine, 
absolutely genuine, and whoso says they are not, says 
what is false. 

By William E. Channing, Sept. 16, 1867. 

Q. Has the spirit-body corresponding organs, anato- 
mically considered, which pertained to the mortal body? 
And when the spirit enters the spirit-world, has it the 
same desires, inclinations, and tastes that governed it 
here? And further, is the spirit-body an exact likeness 
or counterpart of the mortal body, of a well developed 
mortal body at the ultimate of its mundane life ? 

A. Externally, the spirit-body corresponds to the 
natural body ; but there is a constant internal change 
going on. As the spirit, mentally, becomes larger, more 
advanced in wisdom, the external takes on the changes 
of the internal; becomes more beautiful, more perfectly 
formed, more in accordance with the needs of the indwell- 
ing intelligence. The characteristics of the soul are the 
agencies intrusted with the formation of the spirit-body, and 
they were never known to forget, never known to make 
false representations ; on the contrary, they are very 
precise, and they always give a delineation in the external 
from the internal. Whatever a man or woman is in 
the spirit-land, the representation appears upon the ex- 
ternal. They cannot seem to be what they are not. 
There is no such thing as disguising one's soul character- 
istics after death. All things are governed by stern, 
immutable law, and the soul is not exempt from law; 
form is not exempt from law, but all move by virtue of 



44 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

law, and law that is adapted to their unfoldment. Every 
form in being changes its external characteristics accord- 
ing to its own internal law. These human forms that 
exist upon this continent to-day are not exactly what they 
were many, many years ago. No ; there are certain 
marked characteristics remaining, but a close observer, 
a critical analyzer can behold a very great change. Yes, 
the spirit-body does retain the external organic life so far 
as form is concerned, if you speak of it as belonging to 
human life. All the various, organs are represented in 
the spirit-body. And if they are represented in the spirit- 
body, they are for use. Yes ; and the soul has need of 
them. But the necessities of the soul are not exactly the 
necessities of the physical body. One may need the grains 
and fruits and animal life of the sphere to which it has 
been born, and the other also needs the fruits and grains 
and animal life of the sphere to which it belongs. There 
is a difference. One is the crude, the other is the re- 
fined, the ethereal. One is the outside life, the other 
is the inside life. The mechanic in the spirit-land 
deals with the thoughts of the mechanic ; the fruit-grower 
in the spirit-land deals with the thoughts of the fruit ; 
The artist deals with the thoughts of the beautiful repre- 
sentations that you have here in mortal life. And yet 
thought is present in tangible form in the spirit-land, 
clearly and brightly and lawfully defined. It is not a world 
of imagination. It is not a vague, unsubstantial, unreal 
world. No. It is a world substantial and real. It is a 
step beyond this mundane physical world. It is the beau- 
tiful perfection of this world. If the rose is beautiful 
here, it is far more beautiful there. All forms that are 
represented on the earth — and these physical forms are 
no exception — find also a representation in the spirit- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 45 

land. You will all learn the truth of my statements 
sooner or later. To-day they may seem to be vagaries, 
founded upon nothing, but by and by you will realize 
their truth, their soundness, and know by experience 
what you can never know by theory. 

Q. Would it not be better for the world, and for the 
mediums who possess such bad health or bad dispositions 
as to attract only evil spirits, to give up their medium- 
ship ? Ought not mediums to be a pure and holy class to 
do much good? 

A. Your correspondent talks of giving up medium- 
ship, as if it were a thing easily done, when the real 
truth is, it cannot be given up, any more than it can be 
taken on. Mediumship — genuine mediumship — is the 
gift of God. He gave it, and he alone can take it. 
When we hear mediums, or those who call themselves 
such,. declaring that unless the people and the spirits do 
thus and so they will give up their mediumship, we know 
that such are not what they purport to be ; for as me- 
diumship is of God, it is God who guards it, and God 
alone who can take it from the subject. The spirit world 
is peopled with a vast variety of intelligences, from the 
highest to the lowest, and it is a law of divine life that 
every soul shall unfold or perfect itself through the agen- 
cies of being as best it can. Now, then, if some de- 
praved souls find that they can unfold more readily by 
returning to earth and manifesting through media, who 
shall say they shall not come ? Who has the right to 
determine concerning their coming? It is vain for you 
to declare that no undeveloped or depraved spirit can 
return unless there is some attraction within the medium's 
life. Jesus, the purest of all mediums, either ancient or 
modern, attracted to himself a legion ef undeveloped 



46 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

spirits ; and he taught them — he preached unto them — 
he liberated them from their dark surroundings — he led 
them by his own light up the mount of Transfiguration. 
He was their Saviour. But if he had banished them, 
could he have been ? Never. Go ye, and learn of him ; 
and if darkness comes to you praying for light, even if 
its manifestations are of the most diabolical kind, turn 
not a deaf ear, but listen, and perchance you may catch 
the notes of an angel even there. Extend the hand. 
Though thy brother or thy sister be in the very depths of 
hell, if you are all right they cannot harm you. Be sure 
that your own garments are spotless, be sure of your own 
internal holiness, then no filth can attach itself to your 
external lives. Though you may walk through all the 
darkness that ever closed around the depraved spirit, it 
cannot harm you. 

By John Pierpont, Sept. 24, 1867. 

Q. Where does the spirit of Mrs. Conant remain 
while another spirit takes possession of her organism ? 

A.. Sometimes she remains in a dormant state within 
her own physical life. But oftener her conscious part 
retires, goes out sometimes among her friends here in 
earth life, and sometimes is attracted off to different lands 
here on earth, and is able to observe, in her spirit, the 
different conditions of being where she is at the present 
time. As spirit is superior to matter, it can break the 
bonds of matter, and go forth from matter at will ; there- 
fore, if there is any attracting power to those points, if 
the spirit desires to follow that attraction, it can do so. 

Q. And does it retain its identity ? 

A. And at the same time retains its identity. The 
body is but the medium of the spirit ; and although it is 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 47 

better adapted to the spirit that has dwelt with it from its 
natural birth, yet it can be used also by any spirit who 
understands the laws governing in such cases. There 
are several instances recorded where the spirit of the 
medium has given distinct and positive and unmistakable 
evidence of its identity in places besides where the form 
was located during the manifestation of some foreign 
spirit. She has manifested in England, in Germany, in 
Roxbury, — localities apart from the place where the body 
was at the time. And when questioned concerning an- 
swers that were given to questions put to her while she 
was apart from the body — when questioned of them, 
after returning to the body, her answer was, I should 
have said so if I had been questioned while in conscious 
relation with the body, — thus proving that the spirit was 
the same outside of the body that it was within it, and 
acting through it. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 26, 1867. 

Q. Please to distinguish between the phenomena that 
characterized the seers or prophets of the Old and New 
Testament, and the phenomena now witnessed through 
our mediums. 

A. There is a difference, but it is not in principle. 
It is simply in outward life, outward expression. The 
occult manifestations that were said to have had life in 
the past, were dependent upon the forms through which 
they were called to manifest. The stream receives its 
shape from the channel through which it flows. The 
rays of light receive their colors from the channel through 
which they flow, and the mediumistic atmosphere by 
which they are surrounded. So it is of spirit-manifes- 
tations. The manifestations of every age partake of the 



48 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

intellectual, the moral, and the religious standard of the 
age. The manifestations of ancient times corresponded 
to the development of those times, — the development of 
mind, the development of matter; and the manifestations 
of to-day correspond with the development of to-day. 
They answer the requirements of the time in which they 
exist. The manifestations of ancient times would be 
hardly thoroughly digested by you of to-day. And yet 
their inner life is absolutely the same. When resolved 
to their primaries, they are one, and you cannot separate 
them. The condition exists only in another form of 
manifestation. 

Q. Was Jesus any other than a brother of our hu- 
manity — a gifted and distinguished medium ? 

A. No — none other — absolutely none other. He 
was the child of our great Father, God, and our brother, 
gifted as all God's children are gifted, according to their 
own capacities of reception. Whoever can receive large- 
ly, becomes largely gifted, and is able to give much unto 
those by whom they are surrounded. Jesus could receive 
largely from the fountain of wisdom and truth, and he 
became thus a shining light, not only to the age in which 
he lived, but that light that continued to shine down the 
ages, until to-day it is radiant as ever to us. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Sept. 30, 1867. 

Q. Can a spirit, after leaving the form, take cogni- 
zance of material forms any farther than what is seen by 
the medium? 

jL. A spirit that has passed through the chemical 
change called death, perceives the external of all forms 
that are upon the face of the earth, through the electro- 
magnetic aura that emanates from mediumistic physical 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 49 

bodies. It is not necessary that the spirit should have 
absolute control of such a body at the time it perceives 
these objects, but it is absolutely necessary that it should 
come within that magnetic atmosphere ; for by so doing 
they come into rapport with the external forms that have 
an existence upon the face of the earth. For instance, 
when I am apart from this physical body, — this medium, 
— should I wish to behold any object in this room, I 
should first seek to come within the atmosphere or mag- 
netic sphere of this medium, or some other that might be 
in this locality. When the scientific man desires to gain 
a clear understanding of the heavens, he takes his glass, 
that he may come into rapport with the heavenly bodies 
through the peculiar power of the glass. Upon precisely 
the same conditions the spirit uses the medium, or the 
magnetic life that passes from these mediums, by which 
they may come into rapport with these external forms. 
There are heavenly bodies so far distant from your exter- 
nal vision that you cannot, without some extra aid, behold 
them ; but if you can obtain the necessary extra aid, you 
can behold them. So with regard to these objects. We 
can see them ; we can feel them. We can smell the 
aroma of your flowers by coming into rapport with them. 
But in our proper spiritual state we behold only the spir- 
itual part of these flowers. (Referring to a vase of flow- 
ers upon the table.) 

By William E. Channing, Oct. 1, 1867. 

Q. If I believe the administration of the laws cruel 
and wrong, is it not a sin for me to support the govern- 
ment by vote or by paying taxes ? 

A. All individual opinion should, under all circum- 
stances, be sacrificed for general good. Whenever and 
4 



50 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

wherever the good of the masses is involved, individual 
opinion should be sacrificed. Though this government 
is not the highest form of government that the soul is 
capable of conceiving, yet it is the very best kind of 
government that the times can give birth to. It belongs 
to this age. It is the result of the growth of mind, — 
mind in the present and mind in the past, — and it holds, 
also, a divine relationship to mind in the future. As it 
is fitted to the wants of the present, as it answers the 
requirements of the masses, then surely individual opin- 
ion concerning it should have little weight. 

By T. Starr King, Oct. 3, 1837. 

Q. Are there any persons that are more mediumistic 
when under the influence of liquor than at any other 
time? 

A. We are informed by those intelligences who have 
made the science of mediumship a study, that there are 
some mediums who are more readily brought under the 
influence of a certain class of spirits, disembodied, when 
under the influence of liquor. 

Q. How does the use of liquor make one more me- 
diumistic ? 

A. Under certain circumstances it reduces the power 
of the body over the spirit, or, in other words, it lessens 
the control of the indwelling spirit upon the external 
body, and therefore renders the body an easy prey to 
some other spirit who is more positive. 

Q. Can you tell us why sometimes a medium who 
visits another cannot get any communication ? 

A. Because two negatives have met, and, therefore, 
the law cannot act. Two positives, when meeting, are 
apt to gain no response one from the other. Spirit-man- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 51 

ifestations are governed by electric and magnetic laws — 
subtle forces underlying the external. Physical forces 
are very powerful. They are, indeed, the law, and whoso 
would receive their aid, must come into communion and 
assimilation with them. It is very rare that one medium 
can gain satisfactory communication from the departed 
through any other, except in such instances as where the 
medium used by the communicating spirit is, of the two, 
the most powerful ; but where they both stand upon the 
same mediumistic plane of mind and body, it is very 
hard for the spirit to commune with the one who desires 
communion. 

Q. Do spirits measure time as we do ? 

A. No, they do not. There is no time nor place in 
the spirit-world proper. If they measure time at all, it 
is according to your understanding of time. It is in 
accordance with the rules of earth, the rules of these 
external forms — not with the internal, the spirit. 

Q. Is spirit the product of matter, or matter of spirit, 
or are both eternal ? 

JL. Your speaker believes they are both eternal. 
There are certain intelligences who contend that matter 
is the result of spirit, and certain others who contend that 
spirit is the result of matter. I believe that you cannot 
well separate spirit from matter. I believe that spirit acts 
upon matter : matter changes its forms to satisfy the re- 
quirements of spirit. The mechanic must first have the 
idea, or the thought of the article he wishes to construct, 
ere it comes into the objective world. Here you see 
spirit behind the form ; and so I believe it ever is. But 
as spirit is dependent, for its mode of manifestation, upon 
matter, so matter is dependent for its existence upon 
spirit. The two act in concert together. One would be 



52 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

a nonentity without the other. This world and the world 
of mind are wedded together. These forms and their 
indwelling life are wedded together. Mind and matter 
go hand in hand throughout eternity, I believe. 

Q. Matter is transmuted from one form of being to 
another. Is it equally true of spirit? Is animal life 
transmuted into human, human into angelic, and thus 
back again into human? 

A.. The spirit or essence of life, we believe, is the 
same yesterday, to-day , and forever. In essence it never 
changes. It always was perfect, is, and always will be 
perfect. It is only the external that changes. I may 
influence the dog or the horse ; he may obey my will, and 
to that extent he may become my medium or subject 
through which my spirit manifests, precisely similar to 
that which is seen through the physical form. Indeed, 
the spirit has all forms by which it manifests itself to the 
external world. The mechanic manifests his life in con- 
structing these objects (table, &c). The artist, when 
he pictures his thoughts, places his life there. The as- 
tronomer, when he searches out worlds, throws his life 
there. The geologist, when he enters in thought down 
deep into the heart of the earth, throws his life there. 
Soul goes everywhere. Soul has dominion over the fish 
of the sea and the fowls of the air ; over^ all things that 
ever have been, are, or ever will be. All things become 
mediums through which the soul manifests. You mistake 
when you suppose that these physical forms are the only 
machines through which the soul, the intelligent part, 
manifests itself. Look abroad throughout the universe, 
and you will see that you are mistaken. Mind is exerted 
everywhere, and you cannot exert your mind upon any 
one object, or in any one direction, without throwing 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 53 

your life there, and that life has become incorporated into 
the object. The artist manifests through his glorious 
landscape ; the sculptor through the grand form of mar- 
ble, which seems as though it would speak. His life is 
there ; though the marble utters no sound, though it gives 
back not even a sigh to your admiration, still the artist's 
life is there. If you will only search into this glorious 
science of life, you will behold for a certainty that mind 
is acting everywhere ; not only through these forms, but 
through every conceivable form that has an existence. 

By Hosea Ballou, Oct. 8, 1887. 

Q. As human souls unfold in spirit-life, will they also 
pass farther away from our earth? If so, will the mem- 
ory of having lived upon the earth finally become obliter- 
ated from their minds ? 

A.. The soul is not bound to any special locality. It 
exists independent of locality. It is not at all necessary 
that the soul should pass away from the earth and its 
conditions after it rises from a state of ignorance to a 
state of wisdom, or from unhappiness to happiness, for 
there are quite as many souls in the kingdom of wisdom 
on the earth as anywhere else ; and quite as many souls 
in the kingdom of heaven even, here upon earth, as in 
the farthest condition of human existence that you are 
able to conceive of. The soul is not governed by local- 
ities, or by the conditions of time. It is of itself a thing 
eternal. It belongs to eternity, and progresses according 
to the laws of eternal life. 

Q. Was there ever a period in the history of man 
when his soul w r as not an immortal entity? 

A. The soul we believe to be co-existent with God, 
and therefore eternal. We believe it ever had an exist- 



54 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

ence as a distinct entity, and we believe it will ever con- 
tinue to have an existence ; but that it will perpetually 
change its form of manifestations, so that while you recog- 
nize it by its external expressions, you will be apt to con- 
sider that it has changed states, has lost its priority ; but 
it is not so. It is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

By William S. Channing, Oct. 10, 1887. 

Q. If astrology and prophecy be true, so that future 
events can be foretold, does it not teach foreordination, 
and that we are not wholly responsible for our acts ? 

A. There are different kinds of responsibility: as 
many different kinds as there are souls to be responsible. 
That a great eternal law runs through all the events of 
life, I believe. I believe, also, that it determines con- 
cerning all the events of life ; and that, whether we will 
or no, it will shape our destiny ; whether we will or no, 
we are carried on by this great tide of being, which we 
cannot successfully go against. I believe that every hu- 
man soul, as an intelligence, possesses each its distinctive 
quality of responsibility. Just so far as that soul under- 
stands what right is, just so far that soul is responsible to 
that law of right. And whoso sins against it, sins against 
what may properly be termed the Holy Ghost ; for I know 
of nothing holier than the divine law which makes us con- 
scious of right. 

Q. One says, in the "Banner of Light," that the 
spirit, the intelligent part, the motive power, does not 
dwell within the body. Now I had supposed that the 
spiritual body dwelt within the material body, and sepa- 
rated from it at death, and became the immortal form of 
the inner spirit. Will you explain this point? 

A. No, it does not dwell within the body, any more 



FROM THE SPIRIT LAND, 55 

than the performer on the musical instrument dwells 
within the instrument. It is outside of the body, but 
adapted to it so far as it is in rapport with the body. So 
far as there is disease, the spirit is not present in full ac- 
tion — has lost its control precisely upon the same princi- 
ple that a musical performer would lose control of the 
instrument when one of the keys w r as out of order. 
People who believe that the spirit dwells within the body, 
will have to unlearn their mistake sooner or later. 

Q. When you control the medium, do you enter her 
form, or come in rapport with the physical aura of her 
system? 

A.. No, I surround it ; I enclose it within my spiritual 
embrace. I act upon it precisely as she, in her normal 
condition, acts upon it. 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 

Our attention has been called to an article which ap- 
peared in your last issue.* It seems to be in part a criti- 
cism upon an article w r hich appeared some time since con- 
cerning the birth of Jesus the Christ, and, in part, it seems 
to be the opinion of the writer, founded upon certain myth- 
ological and theological researches. In his opinion Jesus 
the Christ did have a miraculous birth and conception. In 
his opinion, the Virgin Mary was overshadowed by the 
Holy Spirit, the great God-principle, and as a result of the 
overshadowing, Jesus the Christ was born. He believes 
also that his birth was foretold long before the event took 
place ; and he cites, as one of his greatest reasons for 

* Referring to an article signed " Justice " (printed in the " Banner 
of Light" the second week in October)* in which the writer criticises 
the answer given by the spirit of Rev. Dr. Channing to a " Minister of 
the Gospel " on the same subject. 



56 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

believing in the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ, 
the appearing of the star of Bethlehem ; and he informs 
us that the star disappeared when Jesus disappeared in 
form from earth ; that it appeared only for the short space 
of his lifetime, and then went away, having performed its 
princely mission. It is impossible to give an elaborate 
answer to the article in the short space of time allotted to 
us on this occasion. But we can throw out a few hints, 
which, if they do not serve him well, may serve some- 
body else. 

Standing, then, upon what he deems to be the most 
conclusive evidence of the miraculous conception of Jesus 
the Christ, we have only to look the world through, to 
scan the history of all nations, all the different tribes that 
have existed on the face of the earth since intelligence 
had a being, and we shall learn that every nation under 
heaven, every distinct tribe that had any idea of religion, 
has a similar tradition. Let us look, for instance, at the 
Chinese records, the oldest upon the earth. There we 
find a passage, when translated, running thus: "And a 
star appeared in the East, showing to the magi where the 
king reposed, and its beams did lead his earthly life, and 
enter his celestial life, showing to us that he was born of 
the star, and destined to be king over the people of the 
celestial empire." 

Now this tradition dates far, far back in the past, and 
this is only one account of the many which we have in 
mind; indeed, as we have before affirmed, every tribe 
that lays claim to religious intelligence has the same tra- 
dition. How then has the Christian world any more right 
to it than any other? We cannot see that they have. 
We look upon it as simply a tradition that belongs to all 
a^es, and we believe that it has its origin in the worship 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 57 

of the heavenly bodies. It could have originated no- 
where else. The writer of the article seems to be im- 
pressed with the idea that modern Spiritualism is the ex- 
hibition of Anti-christ, and that.it is to the second coming 
of Christ what John the Baptist was to his first appear- 
ing. He seems to believe, if we have rightly understood 
him, that Jesus the Christ at his second appearing is to 
set apart his kingdom on the earth, and is to reign su- 
preme over all the nations of the earth. He believes that 
he will be acknowledged, that he will assert his power; 
and he seems to believe that he will be attended by all the 
paraphernalia of Heathen mythology, by the glory of life, 
or, as he says, by a glory so far exceeding human sense 
that human senses cannot understand it. Now to us 
there is clear evidence that he has mixed up within his rea- 
soning faculties certain portions of Heathen mythology 
and Christian theology, and has so woven the two to- 
gether that he himself cannot distinguish between them. 
He has erected an altar, partly real and substantial, or 
spiritual and substantial, and partly from a belief in the 
ignorance of past ages. He goes on to prove that Christ 
was an exception to all other forms on the earth, by citing 
what the record tells us the angel said to Mary. Well, 
there are as many different constructions put upon these 
words which the record gives us as there are minds to 
think upon them. No two, even in theology, determine 
exactly alike concerning them. 

Again, the writer says, if he was not unlike all other 
forms, if he was not wholly different in a special sense, 
why is it that he could control the winds and the waves? 
Why could he perform such healing works, when no one 
else has been able to do the same ? 

Here we shall take exception. So far as the healing is 



58 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

concerned, there are persons north and south, east and 
west, who, under proper conditions, are able to do the 
same that he did, and even more, for he says himself, "I 
cannot work wonders here, because of your unbelief. I 
cannot cure your sick here, because you do not believe in 
me or my works." Modern healers go farther than that : 
they set aside your unbelief, and in many instances cure 
you, whether you believe or no. Now, as regards the 
walking upon the water, which he cites as evidence of 
his divinity : You may as well call the Davenport Broth- 
ers especially divine because their guardian spirits took 
them over the water and they were not drowned. There 
is positive evidence that this was done. You may as well 
declare that Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego were spe- 
cially divine because they came out of the furnace heated 
seven times hotter than it was wont to be heated, without 
the smell of fire upon them. It is well to look religion 
fairly in the face, as well as everything else. It is not 
well to stand too' far from it, because if you do you are 
apt to lose its reality. It is not well to stand apart from 
our God and endeavor to analyze him. If we would 
know him, we must come into distinctive rapport with 
him. The position which we held in the article which has 
been so severely criticised, we still hold, because we know 
it is absolutely of good foundation. 

We do not believe in a God outside and apart from 
Nature. We believe in a God that is in humanity. 
We believe in a God that makes all things divine." We 
believe in a God that hallows the flowers as he hallows 
our souls ; and we most fervently pray that we may never 
so far forget ourselves as to believe in a God who would 
bestow special favors upon any one of his children more 
than upon the whole. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 59 

In conclusion, we would- say, if the writer of the 
article has any more thoughts to throw out upon the 
ocean of intelligence, if we are able to cope with them we 
shall gladly do so. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 13, 1867. 

Q. Can you give us an idea of the language in use 
in spirit-land? We have an impression that you have 
neither speech nor laughter, as known to us ; that all 
thought, "from grave to gay, from lively to severe," is 
understood rather than expressed. 

A., If there were no expression there would be no ex- 
ternal ; there would be no individualization ; there would 
be no form; but everywhere one vast void, which to the 
soul would.be meaningless. But, thanks be to the great, 
wise Master Mechanic, form is carried into the spirit- 
world. Outward expressions are seen and felt and heard 
even there. There is music in the land of souls, so far 
beyond the music of earth's spheres, that were you this 
hour to be translated there, you would scarcely compre- 
hend it. And if you had any devotion within your inner 
life, you would be very likely to fall down and worship 
the God of Music. O, yes, there is sound, sight, and 
feeling in the land of souls. It is not a mere world of 
imagination, a something devoid of beauty, a great chaos, 
with neither form nor fashion. No. It is more beauti- 
ful than this earthly sphere of action, having forms and 
various conditions of being. 

Q. If there is no disease in spirit-land, and all are 
physically perfect, why is a medical science there? what 
the motive for its pursuit where there is no object for its 
exercise ? 

A. There is disease in the spirit-land, for there are 



60 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

quite as many mental ailments as there are physical ail- 
ments. Every kind of sorrow is a disease, and souls ex- 
perience the keenest sorrow in spirit-land. It is far more 
acute than that you take cognizance of here in this world. 
There is quite as much need of soul-physicians as of phy- 
sicians to take charge of the human body. And it would 
be well for those medical men whose business it is to re- 
store diseased physical forms to health, to carry their 
science a little farther, and seek to become physicians of 
the soul, that they may carry their practice into the spirit- 
land, and be of use when they shall enter there. 

Q. If our spirit-friends are with us in earth-life, and 
are acquainted with our surroundings, why is it that they 
do not control those surroundings for our good ? and why 
is it that we are not conscious of their presence ? Your 
inquirer has long prayed for some manifestation of their 
presence, but without success. 

A, It does not follow that because they may under- 
stand the surroundings of those with whom they come in 
contact in the earth-life, that they should be always able 
to control those surroundings, nor does it follow that they 
would always wish to. It should be understood that each 
soul has duties of its own to perform. You may as well 
ask why a certain merchant on Washington Street, or any 
of them, do not leave their own business to interest them- 
selves in the business of some other merchant, because, 
forsooth, they know of the business affairs of that mer- 
chant, and know, perhaps, that he is in trouble? Sim- 
ply because duty to self is not only the first law of 
earth, but of heaven; and, because it is, every spirit 
should depend upon its own internal and external 
sources for happiness — for w-hat it desires. That that 
comes from the external, from another, is rarely appreci- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 61 

ated by the spirit ; but that which is outwrought from its 
own life, or gathered from the external by the earnest 
workings of its own inner life, is always best adapted to 
the needs of the spirit. Therefore it is that those mil- 
lions of sympathizing spirits who have passed through 
death, though they may be in the fulness of sympathy 
with their suffering friends, yet you may hear no sound 
from them. They may be % as it were, shut out from their 
consciousness, having no interference with your earthly 
affairs, because it is better that it is so. It is better, per- 
haps, that they let you work out your own salvation, 
though it be with fear and trembling. 

Q. The followers of Ann Lee believe she was in- 
spired, and uttered many things which they say were com- 
municated to her from the spirit-world. Were those 
influences from the spirit-world, or was she under the 
influence of liquor at the time, as many suppose? They 
believe, too, that their peculiar manner of life and mode 
of worship came from the spirit-land, through the me- 
diumship of some of her followers. Is that so? And, if 
the system is what they believe it to be, why do they not 
increase as other sects do ? 

A. I believe that the founder of Shakerism was a 
very superior medium, and under the special direction of 
a class of disembodied spirits, — not ardent spirits, but 
souls, who once lived in forms of flesh. There are 
not many who desire to leave the pleasures of the 
world to enter a society which eschews many of the 
so-called evils of the world. Therefore it is that 
there is not a large increase among them ; nor would 
it be well for them to increase largely. They are 
acted upon, I believe, by a spirit-band in the land of 
souls, and are acted upon to this end : that they may 



62 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

throw out a certain magnetic influence that the world's 
people have need of. They are what they are, more for 
the benefit of the world's people than for their own 
benefit, though they know it not. They are laboring 
magnetically, or the spirits through them, for the world 
entire, not for themselves. 

By Joseph Lowenthal, Oct. 15, 1867. 

Q. Do the spirit-intelligences who control at this 
circle approve of the Massachusetts prohibitory liquor 
law, or otherwise? 

A. Restraint, when guided by wisdom and love, is 
of good ; but when it is guided by ignorance, and love is 
wanting, then it is apt to lead to destruction, and the 
very end that is sought for is never reached. I believe 
that there are many spirits who visit this place who are 
in favor of the Massachusetts prohibitory liquor law. 
There are also many others who are against it, and who 
seem to use all, the power of which they are possessed to 
throw obstacles in the way of its. success. For be it 
understood, the inhabitants of the world that is unseen 
do very often come into close, very close, rapport 
with those who are still clothed with the flesh, and exer- 
cise a very large amount of power over those who are in 
the flesh, and over the conditions of time. That class of 
spirits who favor the so-called license law, are those who 
believe that this generation, and particularly the class of 
mind that finds expression upon this continent, — this re- 
publican people, — they believe will be better governed by 
moral suasion ;. better governed by erecting for them a 
certain standard which they themselves subscribe to ; 
rear for them an altar which they are willing to recognize 
and worship at. "Then," say these intelligences be- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 63 

yond the grave, w the end sought for by both parties will 
at last be reached." Your speaker has no opinion 
to offer, save that he believes that as God is walking 
through the nations, he himself will finally purge you 
from all the so-called evils that float in social life. 

Q. I would like to ask if a large number of those 
who are among us addicted to the inordinate use of alcohol, 
are not, to a great extent, influenced by those in the 
other world who have not yet been able to rid themselves 
of the habits and appetites they possessed here ; and if 
so, whether it is not possible to reach the parties suffer- 
ing, rather by calling back the spirit of one in the spirit- 
body and treating him through a medium or otherwise, 
so as to deliver him from the condition from which he 
has been suffering? We wish to ascertain your opinion 
as to the possibility of ridding ourselves and others of 
those habits, w^hich are diseases; and equally of other 
physical diseases in that way. 

Ji. A certain amount, I may say a very large 
amount, of all diseases, either physical, or mental, or 
moral, are augmented by the interference of foreign 
spirits ; therefore, if you would gather in their causes 
entire, so far as you are able to, you must gather such 
in also. If you would rid the little branches of disease, 
you must commence at the root. Then you will com- 
mence right. But generally it is the habit of mortals to 
deal heavy blows at all evil effects, failing to touch the 
cause, so the effect is fought against and fought against, 
and it continually rears its head like a monster in your 
midst, over which you seem to have no control. Some- 
times mental, physical, and moral diseases have their 
source entirely within the human physique, and no out- 
side interference can be traced. But those are the excep- 



64 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

tions, not the rule. When you understand the laws 
governing through all the minutiae of life, you will know 
how to live in health. Disease will depart from you, 
and a heaven upon earth will have begun. 

By William E. Channing, Oct. 17, 1867. 

Q. Does the fact of one's having committed suicide 
impede his progress in the spirit-world more than if 
another had killed" him, or render him more unhappy? 

jL. Yes, because the souLthat has committed suicide, 
as you term it, is very apt to learn that that is not the 
better way ; very apt to learn that it must, through 
severe experience, learn of the better way, and very apt 
to learn that it would have been far easier to have gained 
the experience that was necessary for the' soul in and 
through its own body, than in any other way ; therefore 
it must, of necessity, drink more or less deeply of the 
cup of remorse. But, like all other mistakes in life, it 
always carries its own antidote. When a sufficient 
quantity has been ministered unto the spirit, it comes 
forth washed clean, regenerated and rejuvenated, and 
ready for the march of life. 

Q. How do we reconcile the existence of evil in this 
world with the goodness and wisdom of God ? 

A. We reconcile it in this way. As God is every- 
where, and as there is no place without him, no condition 
without him, so then God is in what you call evil, and, 
being stronger than the evil, is amply able to take care 
of it. I believe that all the experiences of life, all the 
conditions of life, however low they may seem to be, are 
of a necessity, — a necessity growing out of the condition 
of the earth upon which you exist, a necessity growing 
out of the condition of the planets by which you are 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 65 

surrounded, and a necessity growing out of your own 
internal and external condition. Therefore, if this posi- 
tion be a correct one, the goodness of God is displayed in 
the exhibition of the so-called evil, as it is displayed in 
any other condition in life. 

By William E. Channing, Oct. 24, 1867. 

Q. After a long separation, how are we to recognize 
our friends in the spirit-land ? — the body we have seen 
and known, but not the soul. 

A. Surely you are not to recognize them by their 
outward characteristics alone. It is not alone by form 
that you are to know those who have gone on before you, 
when you shall meet them in the land of the hereafter. 
But there is a certain power by which the soul can recog- 
nize those with whom it has been familiar ; it matters 
not whether ages have passed between them since they 
have met in the external or not. There is no such thing 
as forgetfulness for the soul. Memory is eternal. It is 
an attribute of the soul, and therefore is eternal. You 
need not fear that you will not be recognized by your 
friends, or that you will fail to recognize them, for by 
that law that binds you together as friends, you cannot 
fail to recognize them. The law is ever active, and all 
may make use of it whenever they desire so to do. 

Q. Are the surroundings and influences for good and 
evil the same in the spirit-land as in earth-life? If so, 
what do we gain by the change ? 

A. They are proportionately the same, but you are 
just one step, and one only, in advance of the earth-life. 

Q. Is there night and day there? In other words, 
are light and darkness the same there as here? 

A. There is what is equivalent to night and day, 
5 



66 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

light and darkness, but it is not the same as you have 
here. That you have here is adapted to your earthly 
needs ; that we have is adapted to spiritual needs. 

If there are no more questions, we will proceed to 
answer in brief a question which we have received 
from an individual who is radically opposed, as he informs 
us, to King Alcohol. And because he is, he asks that 
those spirits who declare that they have power, or can 
exert power over the conditions of time, will return 
exercising their power towards the destruction of King 
Alcohol. He says, " I am told that the law of chemistry 
is well understood in the spirit-world. Now if it is, 
cannot the spirits, by taking advantage of the law, 
destroy King Alcohol ? drive him out of the domain of 
Nature, so that there shall be no more tears shed on his 
account? so that much of the misery that now fills the 
earth may disappear ? " 

Well, allowing that any class of disembodied spirits 
had that power to change the conditions by which you 
mortals are surrounded, — allowing that they are per- 
mitted to exercise their power upon you, — would it be 
well for them to carry out the wishes of him who has 
called upon us? Would it be well to even seek to drive 
King Alcohol out of the domain of Nature? We argue 
it would not be well. Let us briefly consider from what 
King Alcohol has come. Let us analyze him. Scien- 
tific men inform us that he has been born of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen. These are the causes that have 
produced him. They are in existence everywhere. 
There is no place devoid of them. Life would cease 
to be life without them. Rob the vegetable kingdom of 
them, and it becomes extinct, and the same is true of 
every other department in Nature. Now, since it is 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 67 

always well to strike at the cause of every so-called evil 
effect, if we expect to destroy effectually the effect we 
must begin at the cause. Now supposing for a moment 
we had the power to drive these elements out of Nature, 
what would be the result? Why, destruction, certainly. 
Nothing short of it. It would be as possible to destroy 
the universe, to blot it out of existence, as to blot out the 
essential cause of King Alcohol. It cannot be done. 
God himself cannot do it, and at the same time sustain 
his laws. 

We are not arguing in favor of alcohol. We argue 
against its abuse. But its uses are many — too many 
for us to attempt to enumerate them here. Now, would 
it be wise for us to seek to destroy even this effect of 
these great principles in Nature, since it can be put to so 
many good and proper uses ? Would it be w r ise to seek 
to destroy it because, forsooth, one half of creation sees 
fit to abuse it? No, it would not. Rather seek to en- 
lighten men and women. Rather seek to bring them 
upon a higher level, and then they will use and not abuse it. 
First, begin back — away back. Turn the leaves over, 
leaf by leaf, and you will perceive that nine tenths of all 
those people who bow down as servants to King Alcohol, 
are absolutely forced into that condition by ante-natal 
forces over which they have no control. Seek, then, to 
regulate your affairs in this direction. Seek to bring 
men up beyond the abuse of it, and beyond the abuse of 
everything God has given you. Use all, but abuse none, 
remembering that the great All-Father has given you all 
these things by which you are surrounded — and alcohol 
is no exception — for your good. Instead of seeking to 
destroy these evils, — evils you call them, — seek to get 
yourselves a plane beyond them, so that you can rule 



68 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

them, and they cannot rule you. Bring the nations up to 
a standard beyond the abuse of anything God has given, 
and then all these evils will cease, and earth will become 
indeed a heaven. 

By Lewis Howard, Oct. 28, 1867. 

Q. Has our late war so far settled the disturbing 
element of slavery and its party entanglements and en- 
tailments, North and South, that we may avoid another 
conflict? And, furthermore, does the negro possess the 
characteristics that will enable him to live successfully 
and happily with the white at the South, or would it not 
be better for him to remove to some other country 
and live by himself, and this without derogating from his 
rights, which we see God has determined he shall have? 

A.. The dark scenes of war through which this nation 
has but just passed are still fresh in your minds, and 
every scene is peculiar to itself and possesses its own 
life. Every son and daughter claiming a home on this 
American continent, that has come to years of under- 
standing, need not be told that there is still a spirit of 
discord alive. The hoarse mouth of the cannon and the 
sharp edge of the sword have failed to destroy it. It 
lives still, and has its own law outside the law of active 
life. Therefore, if it is in action, you may know that it 
will culminate in some peculiar form or other, at some 
time or other ; it may be in the far distant future, and 
it may be very near at hand. " I believe that the present 
scene of strife — it is present, for it is with you even 
now — will be followed by one upon a mental plane. It 
may be called a mental war. And, as the pen is said to 
be more terrible than the sword, so thought is more 
terrible than deed, though you may not so understand 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 69 

it. And I believe that war that is to come will do- more 
towards liberating the slaves upon this continent than that 
through which you have just passed. The physical war 
has brought the North to a better understanding with the 
South, and vice versa. And, therefore, it has condi- 
tioned both so that this mental war, when it shall be 
opened, will result in good. The North will say to the 
South, "You have a right to expect this much of me ; " 
and the South will say to the North, "You have a right 
to expect this much of me." The negro claims his 
home here, and he has the right so to do. The soil is as 
much his as yours, and should you attempt to remove- 
him — it matters not whether your motive be good or 
bad — you will find that the policy will not work as well 
with him as it has worked with the red man. He knows 
you too well, and, knowing you, will exercise his God- 
given power in consonance with his knowledge. He will 
not be driven from hence without warfare. He knows 
his rights, and will fight for them, and the great army of 
freedmen who have gone yonder will fight for him too. 
The lesson that the great All-Father has sought to im- 
press upon your minds, namely, the right of freedom for 
all, and justice — as it means with God — you have failed 
to learn. Notwithstanding your homes have been deso- 
lated, and your hearts have been wrung by the loss of 
near and dear friends, still your lesson is not half learned. 
Now that the negro is in part a freedman, now that you 
cannot buy or sell him bodily, you determine — many of 
you — to do so mentally and socially. Now that it has 
been determined that he has a right to his freedom, many 
of you determine that he must exercise that right in some 
foreign land. But, I tell you, inasmuch as he knows his 
rights, he will fight for them. The last few years have 



70 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

educated him in warfare, and, if need be, he will throw 
his knowledge into the scale against your injustice, and 
who, think you, will come off victorious? The voice of 
God has been sounding for years over your land, " Let 
my people go ! " but you have held them in body, and 
when you can do so no longer, you desire that they shall 
depart out of your coast. No, no, it cannot be. It 
never will be. 

Q. Is the doctrine of pre-existence, or the idea that 
man always existed as a conscious individual being, 
true? 

A. I believe it is true. If I doubted that I had ex- 
isted as a conscious, individualized intelligence throughout 
all past eternity, I should have no hope for the future. 

Q. Does the controlling influence have any knowledge 
of a life previous to that which he experienced while in 
the body here? 

A. Absolute, perfect, and clear. 

Q. Does not the theory of progression believed in by 
Spiritualists, and so often found in communications from 
spirits, carry with it, as a natural sequence, the idea of a 
starting-point or a beginning? 

A. No, by no means. Because you live under a law 
of infinite progress, you are not to suppose that there was 
a time when you were beyond the limits of that law. 
No, I do not believe that the soul ever had any starting- 
point. I believe it always has existed, else I could have 
no hope that it always would exist. 

By Arthur Fuller and G. A. Redman, Oct. 29, 1867. 

Q. Can departed friends sever the silver cord that 
binds us to our material body, if the spirit inhabiting that 
body desires it, and the spirit-friends are anxious or 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 71 

willing to grant that desire? We believe they can. Are 
we right or wrong? 

-4- You certainly are right in your belief; for if the 
spirit was possessed of that power while in the body, it 
certainly is possessed of it after leaving the body. 

Q. In the Banner of the 22d of September, 1866, 
the controlling spirit, in answer to certain questions, uses 
the following language: " This is a truth — a great and 
mighty truth — that you are all changing places. That 
you die, is proof of it ; that you live again beyond the 
tomb, is another proof of it ; that as ages shall again 
roll on you will again inhabit human forms, is still 
further proof of it. 5 ' Does the controlling spirit mean 
that spirits, after being separated from their earthly tene- 
ment, will again occupy a human body as they did before 
the dissolution? And if so, will those bodies be subject 
to decay as were the former ones ? The above message 
of the intelligence is not clear, and a little explanation 
and further information is solicited. 

jL. The theory of the resurrectionists is by no means 
without foundation. But they have arrived at a wrong 
conclusion. One of our most able speakers once said 
that the air was full of truth, and whoso was most sus- 
ceptible would receive it first. Now these resurrection- 
ists have perceived the truth and grasped it, but they 
have applied it in the wrong place. They believe that 
the spirit is to return after the lapse of years and inhabit 
this old body again, living on a new earth and under new 
circumstances, but having the old body. Well, that the 
spirit will return to earth again- and become re-incarnated 
in a human body, there is much evidence. Indeed, all 
that we have been able to gain is very largely in its 
favor. But our experience does not determine that we 



72 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

shall come again and inhabit the old bodies that we have 
lain off. The soul, the thinking, the intellectual part of 
man, finds expression alone through organized form, and 
if it expresses itself upon earth, it must express itself 
according to the laws of earth ; and as the human form 
is the highest in existence, and the form through which 
the soul can best express itself, we believe that the souls 
of those who have gone beyond this world of man, full 
of shadows and sunbeams, will return again at some far- 
off future period, to live again through human life, and 
that human life, we believe, will be in a different condi- 
tion from the life of to-day, yet it will be organized life 
in human form. The ancients, who believed in this 
theory to a certain extent, had more correct ideas than 
the world has to-day. We do not wonder that many 
souls in contemplation of this theory shudder at it, since 
they have, many of them, tasted very largely of the sor- 
rows of time ; but if they would pause and consider that 
they are in the hands of an infinite law that will guide 
them whithersoever it will, whether they will or no," they 
would cease to mourn, methinks, over what is best for 
them — over what all their mourning will not change. 
All life,. we are told, moves on by distinct degrees, and 
it moves in cycles. It is rounded into being by passing 
through the various experiences of human and intellec- 
tual life. If this be true, have we any guarantee against 
returning again to earth ? Able minds contend that we 
have none ; and your speaker himself believes that there 
is much soundness in the theory. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 73 

By Prof. Edgar C. Dayton, Oct. 31, 1867. 
Tribute to John A. Andrew. 

We are told that Massachusetts this day mourns the 
loss of a favorite son — an honored child. Though a 
sister State claims him by right of birth, yet Massachu- 
setts claims him by right of love and public duties. But 
is he lost ? Will no echo answer the question ? Is the 
power that prompted him to kindly deeds and kindly 
words forever silenced in death? Will he linger no 
longer in the midst of the family circle ? Will he bless 
no longer the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ? Is he 
dead? These are questions that Massachusetts should 
answer. The spirit of the age can answer them to the 
entire satisfaction of Massachusetts whenever she shall 
call upon her for an answer. Are all those leading minds 
that made glorious the page of her history dead ? Those 
who have passed beyond mortal state ; those whose forms 
you have mourned over; those whose voices you hear no 
longer, are they lost? If they are, then Massachusetts 
is poor indeed. But thanks be to the overruling power 
and the Great Spirit of infinite love, they are not lost ; 
nor are they removed to some far-off clime, to some 
distant star, to pursue a course of action entirely different 
from that they pursued while here. No ; the power of 
love, though earthly, is infinite and grand. Death can- 
not touch it. Change has no power over it. It outlives 
all change. It bids defiance to death ; for the Great 
Father of life has been pleased to crown it with his own 
being, and seal it with his own seal. It cannot die. 

Even while we are speaking, the honored dead, — or he 
who is dead to you, — even while we are speaking, his 



74 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

happy spirit — happy in the consciousness of having done 
right so far as he understood it when here — is being 
welcomed to the land where the soul understands itself 
far better than amid the clogs of mortality. Every soul 
desires to hear those sublime and cheering words : w Well 
done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, now I will make thee ruler over 
many." And the spirit of these words is being shed this 
hour upon him who has just left you. And he knows 
that his earthly labor is not done. Though the golden 
bowl is broken at the fountain, though the silver cord is 
loosed, yet life remains the same, and all those sublime 
traits of character that go to make up an honest man still 
live, and will be called into action in the world of mind 
whither it has flown. 

Massachusetts, who could afford to execute those per- 
sons who fain w r ould have brought tidings from the great 
hereafter many years ago, should afford to-day to answer 
the question concerning her dead. Are they lost? or are 
they found in the Summer Land of action ? Have they 
been removed to satisfy vindictive vengeance? No. All 
Nature answers no. But in strict accordance w T ith the 
great immutable law of universal life, they have changed 
states — have laid off the mortal, and are now standing 
up in the dignity and royalty of immortality. Will they 
weep over your sorrows and mistakes? Ay, they will. 
Will they rejoice over your honest victories ? over your 
best endeavors? Ay, they will. Will they enter with 
all their soul-power into the high and holy objects which 
absorbed their mortal lives? They will. Will they be 
satisfied with the enjoyment of a far-off heaven? No, 
they cannot. For the attracting power earthward is too 
strong, and earth has still longer need of them. And 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 75 

because she does need them, here they will remain, work- 
ing for the enfranchisement of humanity everywhere ; 
praying to the great God of universal mind that you 
may speedily be free from the shadows that close around 
you, as nations and as individuals. 

When the shadow of the wing of the Angel of Death 
falls across the way of human hearts, then it is, if ever, 
that those hearts are turned away from the scenes of 
earth ; turned away, far, far beyond these material 
scenes, to those that are more real and more sublime 
— to those that belong to the spirit. Then out of the 
shadow the crushed heart lifts its prayer to the great God 
of all, asking to know "Where, O, where are the loved 
ones who have been removed from our sight ? We see 
the cold, silent form before us, but where, O, where is 
the spark that made glad its being? Where, O, where 
is that that recognized and answered to our love ? " 

In answer to such prayers as these, modern Spiritual- 
ism has come. She has flung back the shadows, and has 
invited every soul to come straightway to the throne of 
almighty truth, there to receive whatever may be neces- 
sary for their unfold ment. Spiritualism leads you to a 
recognition of the life after death. It shows you some- 
thing more than the shadow of death. It shows you the 
sunbeam beyond. It tells you where your loved ones 
have found their home. It answers all their questions 
with regard to life after death. O, then, ye who mourn 
the loss of loved ones, turn to this modern and ancient 
angel combined in one, asking for light. And Massa- 
chusetts, you whose love is far greater than your injus- 
tice, O, turn by the torch of that love the leaves of life's 
Book, and as you turn them, you will read the answer to 
the question, Where, where are our honored dead? 



76 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Will parents and children who are unavoidably 
separated long years upon the earth, be united in that 
relation in the spirit-world? or will the children outgrow 
all recollection of, and affection for, their parents, and not 
know they ever belonged to them? 

jl. The attraction or law that binds soul to soul, is 
not in any way dependent upon the body or its experience. 
If a parent and child are bound together by a spiritual 
law of attraction, there is nothing that can sever it, no 
power that can separate them, and they as naturally 
gravitate together as an apple will fall to the ground if 
some interposing power does not break its fall. The law 
of spiritual affinity is supposed by many to be dependent, 
to a certain extent, upon human conditions, human ex- 
perience. But it is not so. It stands above and apart 
from human life. There are many parents who have no 
spiritual love for their children, and vice versa. Such 
cannot hope to enjoy each other's society in the spirit- 
land, nor will they wish to. 

•Q. Is the theory of the spirit's home, or "zones of 
spirit-land," as described by Hudson Tuttle in his "Ar- 
cana of Nature," correct in its main features? If so, 
what becomes of them in the far distant future, when this 
earth shall have grown old and passed away, — as an 
earth, — as I understand it will, by almost all writers on 
the Harmonial Philosophy? 

A.. Everything, spirit as well as matter, is subject to 
the law of progress. Everything is constantly passing 
through an unending series of changes ; therefore if the 
spirit-land is a distinct locality, as many writers affirm, 
you are to believe, if it holds connection with the earth, 
that as the earth passes out of its material orbit into a 
spiritual orbit, the spirit-land or zone will change to cor- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 77 

respond to the earth. But your speaker does not believe 
that the spirit-land is confined to any particular locality. 
The brief experience that has been his in the spirit-land, 
has taught him that the spirit-world is everywhere : on 
the earth, under the earth, above the earth; wherever 
there is life, there is the spirit-land. 

By Prof. John Hubbard, Nov. 4, 1867. 

Q. If it is true that the soul has had a previous ex- 
istence in some other form before its connection with the 
body, why is it that it has no distinctive recollection of 
that existence? 

Ji. The soul existed in embryo before it was projected 
into the external world, before it was made apparent as 
an individual according to the laws of time. And yet 
the soul, through its human organism, has no memory 
of that prior existence. It can remember back to the 
days of childhood, but it can go no farther. There seems 
to be a power governing the attribute of memory that is, 
to a very great extent, dependent upon form and the con- 
ditions of form. Memory expresses itself through form. 
It turns to the past through form, and it stretches its 
clairvoyant vision from the past to the future through 
form ; it is dependent upon the laws of form to a very 
great extent. Therefore it is that you do not remember 
having had a prior existence to the one which is now your 
own, so-called, as an individual. I have no recollection 
of an existence prior to the existence of my earthly life, 
yet I have listened to many who declared that they have 
a distinct recollection of scenes far, far back in the past, 
dating long- before their earth-lives. 

Q. Memory is eternal, and the soul's remembrance 
of such a state of life before the present would be as in- 



78 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

delibly impressed on the future of its existence as its con- 
nection with the body is. 

A.. That part of the subject has been answered, we 
think. Memory is, indeed, eternal, and, as we before 
remarked, it is dependent for expression upon form, and 
for its peculiar mode of expression it is dependent upon 
form. What is memory to one individual is not exactly 
memory to another. The attribute of memory differs 
according to the characteristics of the form through which 
it is expressed. 

Q. Some people believe in the transmigration of 
souls. Do we take some other form, and so go on in a 
constant round of progression? Does the soul enter 
other bodies sometimes better and sometimes worse than 
its own? 

A.. In one sense it does enter other bodies, and acts 
through other bodies than the human ; and, in another 
sense, it does not. For instance : The mechanic may, to 
all intents and purposes, act through his mechanical skill, 
and express his life in some outward form, a table, it may 
be, a chair, a dwelling-place. Who shall determine that 
the life of the mechanic is not there? Certainly no one 
can. The soul expresses itself, I believe, through all 
that is beneath it. Everything becomes a medium for 
the soul. The granite rocks are the soul's mediums, the 
skies, the air, the water, the flowers, the beasts, the 
birds, the fishes — everything that is beneath the soul 
becomes the agent of the soul ; and so far as the soul is 
able to find expression through these forms, or by the 
agency of these forms, so far it becomes incorporated in 
the form allied to it. The ancients grappled with a very 
great truth in their theory of the transmigration of souls. 
They intuitively perceived the power of the soul over all 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 79 

matter, and, perceiving its power, they very naturally 
were led to conclude that it would use the power, and, 
therefore, become incarnated in other forms than the 
human. 

By Thomas Paine, 3NTov, 5, 1867. 

Q. If spirits do, as they say, visit other planets, I 
would ask if they are inhabited? and if so, do you learn 
anything of them — of their history, character, and con- 
dition, as compared with the inhabitants of the earth? 

A. Very many of the planets are inhabited by animal 
and intellectual life, while very many of them are not 
inhabited, they not having arrived at the stage where they 
can sustain animal and intellectual life combined. It is 
impossible to visit any such locality and not learn some- 
thing in consequence of the visit. We find that all the 
planets that we have been made in any degree conversant 
with, possess essentially, and to a great extent objectively, 
the same life as the earth. The atoms are aggregated 
differently, to be sure, but the essence of the atoms is 
precisely the same, and the same general law seems to 
govern them. The products of those planets that seem 
to be unfolded in nearly the same plane of the earth, are 
nearly the same as those of the earth. There is, to be 
sure, a difference ; but it is in the external more than the 
internal. The great power that governs this earth gov- 
erns all other planets, and they all are subservient to this 
law ; therefore the method of unfoldment must be similar. 

By Theodore Parker, Nov. 7, 1867. 

Q. Why is it that Spiritualists speak so disrespect- 
fully of religion, and so malignantly towards any one that 
has done any harm, if he belonged to a church? Does 
belonging to a church make the person any worse ? 



80 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. There are many persons who claim to be Spirit- 
ualists who are only such in outward expression, while 
the inward life of Spiritualism they know nothing about. 
Spiritualism teaches large charity, and it also teaches you 
to be just. It does not teach you to array the peculiar 
condition of any individual before the world, that the 
world may censure and finally condemn. No, Spiritualism 
does no such thing. Spiritualism points you to yourself, 
and bids you to be exceedingly watchful over yourself, 
guarding your every act, and rendering all acceptable to 
even the highest angels in the sphere beyond time. Spir- 
itualism does not propose to wage war against the church- 
es, or against the members composing the churches, but 
it does propose to wage war against the darkness within 
the churches — that which belongs particularly to the 
churches, not the outside acts of individual members. 
Spiritualism does not tell you to blame the church be- 
cause one of its members commits murder or any other 
crime. No, it advises to no such course. Now your 
querist asks why Spiritualists do thus and so? Well, 
they do so because they are ignorant of the better way — 
spiritually ignorant. They do not see that in this course 
they are following directly in the wake of theological 
darkness and bigotry. They fail to see that they are en- 
acting over and over again what they condemn in others. 
If they did see it, they would be ashamed for themselves. 
They would turn from the course, knowing it was not 
the better way. Spiritualists, — those even who have only 
the outside of Spiritualism, who know nothing of its inner 
life, even that class who only make a profession of belief 
in the return of dead men, women, and children, — should 
be exceedingly careful how they send out words and 
thoughts that are so exceedingly bitter against any one, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 81 

whether in or out of the church. For their opponents, north 
and south, east and west, are watching them, trying to de- 
termine concerning Spiritualism by the fruits those Spir- 
itualists bear. If they bear slander, what sort of notion 
can your opponents have concerning you or the glorious 
cause you represent? If their fruits are bitter, who can 
be nourished by them ?, 

]S T o, no, ye Spiritualists! even ye who float only on 
the surface, beware! for this great cause that is, so for 
as its expression on earth is concerned, dependent on you 
for its growth, beware, I say, how you cause it to blush 
for you. The time may come w r hen Spiritualism will re- 
ceive a sifting ; when all such as are not Spiritualists at 
heart, as well as at head, will be set aside ; and by 
whom? Why, by the God of their own natures; for 
they will be ashamed of their course, because they will 
see it in its deformity, and they will set themselves aside, 
waiting till they shall be more worthy to enter the ranks 
of pure and undefiled Spiritualism. 

We will answer a question in brief, which has been 
presented us from one of the liberal minds of the age, — 
liberal, in certain directions, in politics, in religion — 
Spiritualism excepted, — for he tells us at the outset that 
he has not made up his mind as to w T hether or not Spirit- 
ualism is true ; he hopes it is true, thinks it is a glorious 
religion, hopes it may soon become exceedingly popular ; 
and he might have added, When it does, I will openly 
embrace it. And then he asks what is our opinion, — 
ours, the presiding spirits at the Banner of Light rooms, 
— with regard to universal suffrage. "Tell us," he 
says, "ye w T ho profess to be spirits that have once lived 
in forms of flesh, whether you believe it is right for 

women to vote ; whether you believe it is right for them 
6 



82 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

to stand side by side, politically, morally, socially, and 
intellectually, with man. I am but one of many, there- 
fore can only answer for myself as a distinct individual- 
ity. I claim to be responsible for all that I utter, and for 
nothing more. Is it right for women to vote? Is it 
best? Do you think they are capable of voting, and 
doing justice to themselves and their country?" 

These were questions that passed through his mind, 
but found no external utterance. Our answer may be 
given in a very few words. If woman is capable of be- 
ing a mother to those who make the laws of nations ; if 
she is capable of training the young mind up to mature 
age, and shaping its physical, social, and intellectual des- 
tiny, surely she is capable of taking a part in politics. 
In very many instances she is man's intellectual supe- 
rior, and I know that, when taken as a whole, she is in 
no way his inferior. It is only the superstition of past 
ages that has placed her upon a level below man. God 
never placed her there. Then has man the right to? 
Certainly not. And the same power that hath said, with 
regard to the black man, "Let my people go," says the 
same with regard to woman. Give her her freedom, in 
its largest and divinest sense. First, the religion in 
woman is opposed to war. She intuitively feels that 
peace is better than war. Woman, by nature, is better 
fitted to receive impressions from the higher and diviner 
life. Hence it is surely very possible that she may be 
so guarded and guided by that life, that she will make no 
mistake, even in casting her vote. Yes, as an individ- 
ual, I am in favor of universal suffrage. I am in favor 
of bursting every kind of bonds. I am in favor of lift- 
ing the race higher, and still higher. 

But the great rushing tide of human progress is set- 



FRO 31 THE SPIRIT-LAND. 83 

tling this question for you. I need not come to discuss 
it ; whether I come or not, it will be discussed and set- 
tled. The same great power that determines concerning 
all things, also will determine concerning this ; and since 
the dams that superstition has built against this great 
flood-tide of human progress are being swept away need 
we fear for the result? I certainly do not for one. I 
know that, as the race is bound to rise in all things, it 
will rise in this. And I know also that as the great con- 
gress of spirits are exerting now a wide-spread and deep- 
seated power on the earth, they will not overlook this 
most momentous question. 

By Bishop Fitzpatrick, of Boston, Nov. 11, 1867. 

Q. We are told that Christ was of poor parentage. 
He, of course, had no opportunities for education. Yet 
he was able to confound the greatest Jewish doctors of 
his day. How do you account for this, if he was not 
divinely inspired? 

A. By the action of a natural law upon the physical 
body. I account for it as I would account for the same 
manifestation elsewhere. We are told, upon the very 
best of authority, that the lady subject — the medium 
through whom I am at present speaking to you — at 
seven years of age held converse with men and women 
who were versed in the sciences of the times, and utterly 
confounded them with her wisdom. It was said to be 
some strange mystery ; the brain was affected ; but how, 
they did not see. At all events, a far greater amount of 
wisdom was given through her when under the inspira- 
tion of her guardian spirits, or entranced by them, than 
she could by any possibility have attained during her 
seven years of earth-life. Now you pass by these things 



84 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

that are taking place in your day ; you go back eighteen 
hundred years, to search for what was done through the 
man Jesus. You seek to worship the glory of the past, 
overlooking entirely the glory of the present. I do not 
censure any one who cannot understand the glory of this 
great truth, which has burst upon the world in such re- 
fulgence. I do not blame those who sit in the shadow ; 
I sat there, but a few months ago, myself. But I do 
most earnestly pray, that the sun may soon shine, and 
the darkness of the past, that has forced its way into 
the present, may soon be forced out by the glory of the 
present hour. This is my prayer ; and, as I have faith 
in God, I believe it will be answered. 

By Thomas Paine, Nov. 12, 1867. 

Q. Can we, after the spirit has left the body, appre- 
ciate and enjoy the beauties of nature and art with the 
same facility that we do now? And if so, then please 
say, Can you, as individual spirits, in and of yourself, in- 
dependently of any extraneous aid from any other source, 
— a medium, for instance, — take full and complete cog- 
nizance of any and all the beautiful scenes you were 
accustomed to frequent and admire while you were on 
earth ? 

A. The soul is so constituted that it is able to take 
cognizance of whatever it is attracted unto under all cir- 
cumstances. But, of necessity, there are a great variety 
of degrees. For instance, if when I was on earth ob- 
serving through human senses the glory of a certain 
landscape, and having the power to remember that in my 
spiritual state, and the desire also to behold it again, I 
could not, without the aid of earthly senses, be able to 
take cognizance of the earthly part of the glorious pic- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 85 

ture ; but I should be able to take cognizance of the more 
real, the more substantial, the more glorious part, which 
was the spirit. You have been taught by those who have 
returned, giving their views, their experience in the spirit- 
world, that every material form has its inner life, its spir- 
itual life, its divine representation ; and that that inner, 
that spiritual, that divine, corresponds to the external. ' 
God, I believe, would be very partial, exceedingly unjust, 
if he were to clothe the earth with so much grandeur and 
beauty, and deny the same blessing to the heavens. I 
have more faith in his wisdom. I believe his love ex- 
tends beyond the boundaries of earth ; ay, more, I know 
it. Therefore, all that finds expression on the earth in 
natural form, finds expression also in the spirit-land in 
spiritual form, which corresponds to the external, the 
natural. 

By Thomas Paine, Nov. 14, 1867. 

Q. I saw in the K Banner of Light," of September 14, 
an answer to the question pertaining to an intermediate 
state. The answer was, " I do not believe you will ever 
reach that condition of perfection, in the absolute, that 
so many souls are so earnestly seeking for. There will 
always be a haven of rest in the future — a something 
better than that you have reached." Now, I should like 
to ask, what process the soul, or spirit, has to undergo in 
making these several changes ? and if the changes are as 
absolute and great as the change from the natural, or 
earth-life, to the spiritual, or invisible life, as it is some- 
times termed? and if so, does it teach the immortality of 
the soul ? 

A. There are an infinite number, I believe, of very 
marked changes to be passed through in the spirit-life, 



86 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

similar to the chemical change which has been termed 
death. The speaker, on the occasion referred to, answered 
the query for himself, and for himself alone ; but there 
are thousands and tens of thousands of spirits who have 
laid aside the notion of ever being able to reach a point 
of perfection, or even of rest, from which there is no ap- 
peal. Indeed, all those spirits with whom your speaker 
has had the privilege of coming into mental relations, 
who have made the science of life a deep and soul study, 
have come to this determination. They believe in the 
eternal progress of the soul, and, believing this, they 
cannot see or realize any time or state of being wherein 
the soul can say to itself, w I shall go no farther ; I am 
content ; " but, on the contrary, the soul can only be 
happy by virtue of its own internal and external being — 
by constantly reaching out for something better than it 
has already found. Yes, good friend, you will find that, 
as a spirit disembodied, you will constantly be called upon 
to pass through changes distinct and marked, and changes 
that you will not in the external realize. 

By William E. Channing, Nov. 19, 1867. 

Q. I saw in the " Banner," a few weeks since, this 
question : " What are the functions of the spleen ? " 
Now, I w r ould ask still further, what effect does a dis- 
eased spleen have upon the physical system generally ? 

A.. Medical men, who have made that branch of 
medical science a study, tell us that the spleen may be 
called the magnetic stomach, the organ that receives all 
the magnetic force that is necessary to assist in running 
the machine, the body, from outside conditions. It re- 
ceives them, and by certain processes adapts them to the 
use of the body. They tell us, further, that a diseased 



FRO 31 THE SPIRIT-LAND. 87 

spleen produces most disastrous effects throughout the en- 
tire body, because it vitiates the entire magnetic currents, 
and as it is upon them that all the other organs are de- 
pendent for natural vital connections, if that is not what 
it should be, the connection of all the organs is corre- 
spondingly imperfect. This being true, it is of the utmost 
importance to life that the spleen be in good order. 

Q. What connection is there between the phenomena, 
or prodigies of modern Spiritualism, and the truths of 
religion and Christianity ? 

A. Modern Spiritualism is a natural, well-established 
truth. That truth which runs through Christianity is the 
same. They are all referable to the science of life ; these 
and all other spiritual phenomena, of whatever class or 
kind, are all referable to the science of life. All may be 
resolved back to life. 

Q. Are not the words of a wise, honest, and good 
man, speaking from the fulness of a good and generous 
heart, superior to anything ever uttered by a medium, 
and far more trustworthy? 

A. No. Why should they be? If both are uttered 
from wise, good, honest stand-points, why should you ex- 
clude the moral validity of the one while you embrace 
the other? Truth is truth, from whatever source it comes, 
or through whatever channel it is given. Ignorance is 
ignorance ; wisdom is wisdom. I have seen just as great 
an exhibition of wisdom from the lips of childhood as 
I ever did from mature age. Sometimes the wisdom of 
a Solon may pale before the wisdom of childhood. 

Q. What is the practical utility, either morally or 
religiously, arising from such communications as were 
revealed at the last two circles ? 

A. v To some souls they demonstrate life after death. 



88 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

This is of more importance than everything else com- 
bined. Christianity has never demonstrated the immor- 
tality of the soul. Modern Spiritualism has done it : 
therefore it stands, in that respect, pre-eminently above 
Christianity. I mean that Christianity that is floating 
throughout the length and breadth of the land in the 
present day. I do not mean that pure and undefiled 
Christ-spirit that is so entirely covered up with external 
observances and ceremonies that are called Christianity. 
I mean the life of all those vague ceremonies, which is 
entirely obscured by the external. I have faith that by 
and by this internal life, this pure principle of truth that 
has run through every religion, will finally work itself to 
the surface, will finally so clear itself from the clouds, 
from the superstition and darkness that surround it, as to 
be made apparent to the soul that seeks for pure, unde- 
filed Christianity. The Christ-spirit teaches, universal 
love. Do we find it with those who profess Christianity ? 
No, we do not. On the contrary, they are very far re- 
moved from it. Christ taught his followers to love one 
another ; the sacred law of love he sought to enforce upon 
all his followers. He constantly preached of love. It 
was the guiding star that led him on to glory. But, O, 
where shall we find it among the churches who have 
taken his name to-day. We look for it in vain. 

By John Pierpont, Nov. 21, 1867. 

Q. Is it true that thought takes form with spirits? 
In other words, if a spirit thinks, say, of a landscape, 
does that thought body forth to the spiritual sight a tangi- 
ble presentation of the thing thought of? 

-A. No ; I do not so understand it. I believe that 
thought, in concert with action, can produce many, and, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 89 

I may say, all the scenes of art. But I have no evidence 
that, by thinking of a beautiful flower, a beautiful land- 
scape, or a beautiful face, in the spirit-land or anywhere 
else, that that beautiful landscape, or flower, or face will 
be projected into existence simply because I have thought 
of it, or desire that it might come to me. The earth and 
the spirit-land are filled with all that is essential to the 
soul's happiness. All the essential aids to spiritual prog- 
ress are placed in the spirit-land and in earth-life, or 
wherever the spirit, as a spirit, can go. Now, as spirit 
is possessed of a very large degree, to say the least, of 
freedom when it casts off the mortal body, it is very rea- 
sonable to suppose, that if I think of a beautiful land- 
scape, place, or thing, in my external life, I might com- 
mence action to reach that. I know in my soul-life that 
it exists in tangible reality somewhere, and I seek it out. 
If my desire is strong enough, I do not stop till I reach 
it — till the object is gained, and I am thereby satisfied. 
In this sense, and, I believe, in this sense only, does 
thought produce external objects, or bring them to us. 

Q. If thought does not take form with the spirit, 
then is it true that the objectivities of the spirit-world ap- 
pear fixed and permanent, as with us on earth? For 
instance, three persons, with us, look at the objects in a 
room, and we all see the same things. Is the corre- 
spondence of this true with spirits ? 

A. Yes, certainly. No two persons see or under- 
stand a thing exactly alike. You should remember that ; 
and where you have that faculty of perception very poorly 
developed here, the spirit, in its enfranchised condition, 
has it very largely developed. For instance, I may say 
that is a very poor painting — a perfect daub. Some- 
body else may say, "It is perfectly beautiful; it is food 



90 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

■ • 

for my soul." These soul-feelings, for they belong to the 
soul here, belong to it, to a very large degree, in the 
spirit- world. They have the largest room for the exer- 
cise of that freedom which belongs to the spirit after it 
has cast off the body; therefore, if I detest the picture 
here, and see no beauty in it, that feeling will be intensi- 
fied in the spirit-world ; consequently, two spirits return- 
ing from the same spiritual locality, will give you entire- 
ly different accounts of that locality. One will say it is 
beautiful, another that it is a barren waste. The capacity 
to understand is within, the variety is without ; but the 
capacity to enjoy the variety is from within. So you see 
no two individuals can understand anything — not even 
any one thought — exactly alike. There will be a differ- 
ence of opinion, because there is a difference in the inter- 
nal constitution of the individual ; for it is by the internal 
that the external is measured. 

Q. Why do not the spirit-friends of those w T ho may 
be present at a seance in the circle-room manifest, instead 
of those who have no personal friends present ? 

A.. It is not thought best to allow such manifestation. 
First, because it would prove a great draft upon the me- 
dium — too great. Secondly, because the public, the 
sceptical public, would say, "O, it comes from the au- 
dience. The larger portion of those who manifest have 
friends in the audience. It is but the reflection of their 
mind." So it has been determined that the instances of 
spirit-manifestations to those who have friends in the au- 
dience shall be very few, — indeed, all will be debarred 
from coming, except such as can do so upon an entirely 
Platonic plane. If you could stand behind the scenes 
and watch all the modus operandi of this thing, you 
would not wonder that the guardians of these seances 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAXD. 01 

have considered it best to take such a course. And again, 
those who manifest are generally — the majority, at all 
events — those who cannot reach their friends by any other 
process; their friends are sceptical, and will not meet 
them at any other place where they can speak, and this 
is the only place from which they can give publicity to 
their manifestations and reach their friends. 

By William E. Channing, Nov. 25, 1867. 

Q. I understand from the controling spirit, that there 
is no forgiveness for sin ; that an inevitable penalty 
follows every transgression of any law of our being. 
What becomes of the penalty when pains are removed 
and diseases healed? 

A.. Returning spirits always inform you — such as 
have been informed themselves upon this point — that 
there is no forgiveness for sins. Every sin begets its 
own judge, and the judge begets the punishment therefor. 
The three are so closely allied you cannot separate them. 
When you commit a sin against your physical nature, 
suffering is the consequence. When you commit a sin 
against your spiritual nature, spiritual suffering is the 
consequence — you produce punishment ; a state of in- 
harmony ; and , as the spirit lives in heaven only by 
living in harmony, when it lives in the opposite it lives in 
hell, whether on the earth, under the earth, or in the 
skies. When it is in an inharmonious condition it is in 
hell. There are many degrees of inharmony, as of 
harmony. There are many degrees of heaven, as of 
hell. The child suffers a certain degree of hell by 
unconsciously outraging the laws of its physical being. 
The law does not excuse the little one because it does not 
understand the law. It acts precisely the same with the 



92 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

child as with the adult. It is no respecter of persons or 
of ages. The little one falls beneath its stroke as 
mature or old age falls beneath its stroke. It never 
fails to visit justice and judgment upon all who place 
themselves in antagonism to it. Your correspondent 
asks how it is in the case of cures performed by certain 
healing agents upon the earth. There is an end unto all 
conditions of existence. Conditions are changeable : 
they end that they may give place to others. Disease, 
inharmony, are but the conditions of life, subject to 
change. When the punishment has been severe enough 
the change comes. When the suffering one has suffered 
to an extent sufficient to induce him or her to seek the 
proper remedy, then there is a time to change. The 
spirit has received chastisement sufficient for the time, 
therefore salvation steps in in consequence of the exercise 
of reason. Now, when the criminal descends lower and 
still lower in crime, when his spirit has been deluged 
again and again with that which follows crime, — that 
mental suffering, that unrest, that dissatisfaction, — when, 
I say, it has been deluged again and again, by and by it 
begins to reason. The God without says to the God 
within, "Come, now, and let us reason together!" and 
the result is, the man or woman begins to feel that there 
is a better way, and that that way is for them as for 
others. They begin to seek to know of that way, to 
understand it, to walk in it, to pass out of the darkness 
of the present and enter the light of the future, and then 
begins a newer existence; then the fogs and mists and 
inharmonies that are the result of crime begin to pass 
away, and the soul begins to be resurrected from it. Is 
it by a direct interposition of the Great All-Father with- 
out in the universe? It may be ; but we believe that the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 93 

spirit rests, progresses, and leaves the world by virtue of 
that glorious germ of progression that the Infinite has 
implanted within it. The germ cannot always remain in 
darkness. It will eventually find its way to the light, 
and eventually disperse the shadows. 

Q. I understand that the controling spirit has stated 
that sometimes people can be cleansed from immoralities 
in a somewhat corresponding manner as diseases are 
cured. How can such things be, without forgiveness? 

A. Forgiveness is a term which your correspondent 
seems to have defined according to his own understanding. 
To us forgiveness is a something which avails without 
suffering. For instance, I place my hand in the fire. 
The fire does not burn. Forgiveness steps in between 
the action on my part and the action of the law. The 
fire does not burn. That is my idea of what forgiveness 
is. Now if I place my hand in the fire, and the fire 
burns, and I make use of the usual remedies to stay the 
progress of the burn, does it follow that I have been 
forgiven because the fire did not burn my hand up 
entirely? Surely not. You will learn, every one of 
you, sooner or later, that there is no forgiveness of sin, 
either in this world or the next. So sure as you place 
yourself in antagonism to the law, so sure it will smite 
you. There is no forgiveness. If you sin against the 
law of your own reason, there is no forgiveness there- 
for till you have paid the uttermost farthing for your 
wrong doing. * 

Q. Do clairvoyants and mediums retain and exercise 
the same or a corresponding power in the spirit-world as 
they have here? 

A. They do, only the power is largely increased by 
the change. 



94 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. I desire to know if the following speculations, 
extracted from Sawyer's "Mental Philosophy," published 
in 1839, are true? "When divested of the organs of 
sense at death, the mind is thrown back upon the hands 
of God, to be provided with such other capacities as he 
sees fit to bestow. Its introduction to the other state, at 
death, will doubtless be analogous to its introduction to 
the present state at birth, so far as the bestowment of 
new capacities and powers is concerned. The powers 
and capacities requisite for the Jife to come will, no doubt, 
in like manner be conferred at death — the period of our 
being born into another world. Death divests us entirely 
of all the organs of 1 sense, and, consequently, of all 
capacity for experiencing sensation of any kind. Our 
birth into another world will probably invest us with other 
capacities of a similar but higher nature." 

A.* The ground taken there is substantially correct. 
The spirit receives, at its second birth, new capacities. 
It casts off all that it has no further use for, and receives 
what it can use in the spirit-world. The change is 
distinct ; so much so, that could you discern the spirit, in 
its true, spiritual state after death, you would be led to 
exclaim, "O God, how great the change!" And yet 
the change is so simple that a little child instinctively 
understands it. When a child is born into this mundane 
sphere, its first effort is to inhale the atmosphere. Nature 
acts in conjunction with the wisdom of the Great Infinite 
who rules in nature. The child breathes here because 
there is a necessity for it. One born into the spirit-land 
breathes in a different way, because there is need of a 
different way. There are other attributes added to the 
soul in the spirit-world than those it possesses here, 
because it finds it will need them in the higher life. As 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 95 

it advances, it receives more and still more. It passes 
out of the old ; it instinctively embraces the new ; and so 
on throughout all eternity. I believe it will be ever chan- 
ging in the external, but in the internal remaining forever 
and forever the same. 

Q. Does the controlling intelligence believe that there 
is any intelligent, eternal disorganized spirit distinct from 
man? 

A. I believe that without the agency of matter in some 
state spirit could not express itself; therefore, I believe 
that spirit and matter will ever be so thoroughly wedded 
together that they will never be separated. If spirit is 
dependent upon matter for expression, matter then is of 
as great a necessity as spirit. Spirit passes through the 
realm of matter, changing its forms, and carrying it from 
one state to another, higher and still higher in the scale, 
but at the same time it progresses in its external char- 
acteristics in correspondence with the progression of 
matter. I believe there is an eternal, ever-existent ocean 
of spirit, but I believe that that ocean of spirit is depend- 
ent upon matter for expression. I believe that the two 
are inseparably connected together. I believe that 
although you may soar to the highest spheres that we 
have any knowledge of in spirit-life, even there you 
will find matter. 

Q. Does not this go to prove that matter is self- 
created? If spirit is dependent upon matter, cannot act 
in the absence of matter, is not matter self-created ? 

A. When considered from one stand-point, it would 
seem so ; but when considered from another, it would 
seem quite different. Remove spirit from matter, and 
it becomes inert. Connect spirit with matter, and it 
becomes full of life. Now may we not say, and truth- 



96 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

fully, too, that matter is self-creating only by the agency 
of spirit? As absolute matter it is not self-creating, but 
when joined to spirit it is. 

Q. Will the time ever come when this earth will lose 
its material body, and become exclusively the abode of 
spiritual intelligences ? 

A. The time will certainly come when it will lose 
the material body that belongs to it at the present time. 
This is a self-evident truth. It is exhibited everywhere 
in life. But we have no special evidence that the earth 
will ever become, as an earth, the special dwelling-place 
of disembodied spirits. It may be so. We do not 
know that it will not. But we have no special evidence 
that it will be so. It is even now the dwelling-place of 
millions of disembodied spirits. They walk the air, both 
when you wake and when you sleep. Therefore to them 
it is a spirit home. It belongs to them just as much as 
it does to you. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 3, 1867. 

Q. Will the intelligence explain this passage — 
Luke xxiv. 19: "Behold my hands and my feet, that 
it is I myself : handle me and see ; for a spirit hath not 
flesh and bones, as ye see me have." If it was a spirit- 
body, why did he say he had flesh and bones ? and why 
did he eat? 

A. Concerning this particular case, we have no pos- 
itive knowledge, for that is born only of one's experi- 
ence ; but judging from analogy, we suppose that if 
Christ had passed through the change called death, and 
if he was, after passing through that change, a dweller 
within a sufficiently condensed body as to be able to meet 
the senses of humanity, we are to suppose that that body 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 97 

was formed of material particles, and these were drawn 
from mediumistic bodies and the atmosphere. The same 
has been done in your day, is being done all over the 
land, and it is vain for the sceptic to cry out, "I do not 
believe it" — vain, so far as staying the light is con- 
cerned, for it will continue to roll on till all the darkness 
is dispersed. I suppose this body that the disciples han- 
dled, this body that he was said to have, was composed 
of "flesh, and blood, and bones; was a material body, 
formed for the occasion, as I have before said, out of the 
atmosphere, and some mediumistic body or bodies. I do 
not believe in the resurrection of the body of Jesus after 
death — the material, natural body. Science gives that 
theory the lie. It is in no sense true. We are told that 
everything is possible with God ; but we know that God 
acts by eternal, immutable law, and we know he never 
tramples upon that law. It is always the same. Now, 
then, if Jesus had passed through the change called death, 
there was an entire and distinct separation between him- 
self spiritual and himself natural. Therefore, if he had 
such a body as could be handled, recognized by human- 
ity, it was a body formed for the occasion. 

Mr. White. Do you not suppose his disciples were 
very strongly mediumistic, as well as himself? 

A.. I believe they were. In fact, I have very strong 
evidence towards knowledge, in that matter. 

Mr. White. Would not their being in harmony so 
long on the earth give him greater power. to make a body 
to show to them ? 

A. Yes ; and in all probability if the harmony be- 
tween the disciples had not been broken by the unfaith- 
fulness of one of their number, Jesus would never have 
been crucified. You would never have had a Calvary in 
7 



98 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the Christian religion ; you would never have had a Sa- 
viour in Jesus of Nazareth. But one was unfaithful, and 
betrayed his Master, and what followed you all know ; 
or, at least, you know what the record tells you. By 
and by you will learn much more concerning that. 

Q. The progress and happiness of society in the 
world, in all ages, have been impeded and marred by 
bad men, — monsters, I would say, — from the unprin- 
cipled politicians in our midst to kings, emperors, popes, 
&c. Now, I desire to know if those frauds on mankind 
still hold their influence in the spiritual world ? 

A.. To a certain extent they do. You should con- 
sider that all that this life has produced, all that belongs 
to it, either natural or spiritual, is in the imperfect state 
consequent upon the imperfect state of the earth. It has 
not yet arrived at that point of perfection by which it 
can sustain good men entire, or good women entire. 
There are poisonous plants everywhere upon the surface 
of the earth, and there are poisonous theories every- 
where. There is spiritual poison, as there is material 
poison ; and both, I believe, are legitimate children of 
this planet, the earth. Now, then, as the earth grows, 
becomes more perfect, more spiritually unfolded, and 
more naturally unfolded, it will give you a higher type, 
not only in the vegetable, mineral, and animal, but in the 
spiritual. But all these things come by slow degrees. 
The world was not made in six days by any means. 
Man was not created in the twinkling of an eye, but 
thousands upon thousands, ay, millions upon millions of 
years rolled away ere thought was born. Now you have 
just as good a class of men and women upon the earth as 
the earth can take care of. Be satisfied; work on, as 
the earth works on. The earth does not complain. It 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 99 

performs its mission, and I am very much inclined to 
think you will all perform yours, whether you desire to 
or not. 

Q. Will not this world receive, ere long, some as- 
tounding intelligence from the spiritual world? Will 
not the gates of the spiritual world be opened, so that 
we shall have a flood of light that shall sweep away dark- 
ness, superstition, priests, popes, &c, in one general 
ruin ? 

A. That very thing is being done as fast as there is 
any necessity for its being done. You are receiving 
to-day all the light you can bear, all you are ready for. 
The spirit-world has, indeed, a great ocean of light, in 
the shape of truths that are new to you, to bestow upon 
you when you are ready to receive them. Milk for 
babes, meat for mature age. 

Q. Would it not be better for Spiritualists to organize 
— I mean, the Spiritualists of this world and the spir- 
itual — on some grand or universal platform ? Such a 
thing could be done without being sectarian. 

A. Yes, it would be better, in my opinion;, and in 
my opinion it will be done. 

Q. Is there not organized, in the spirit- world , a con- 
gress to control and direct the great spiritual movements 
in the earth-life ? 

A. There is such a group of spirits as your corre- 
spondent refers to, but they do not control the affairs of 
earth-life, — not by any means. They only exert as much 
influence over those affairs as they are able to, by and 
through the instruments that they find on the earth. 
Sometimes, although they may desire to influence largely 
in certain directions, they may be prohibited from doing 
so, because of the want of some instrument through 



100 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

whom to manifest. Sometimes the atmosphere is against 
them, sometimes the soil. / Different localities produce 
different thoughts, as well as different material influences. 

By Theodore Parker, Deo. 5, 1867. 

Q. Does not modern Spiritualism make larger drafts 
upon credulity than paganism or Christianity ? 

A. Hardly, hardly. It is a very large draft upon 
credulity to believe the fable of Jonah and the whale — 
very large indeed. It is also a very large draft upon 
credulity to believe that a woman could conceive and 
bear a child by being overshadowed by the Holy Ghost ; 
it is altogether out of the course of nature ; and whoever 
believe it stretch their credulity to the very last extent. 
Spiritualism comes in plain attire. A little child can read 
it. If the mother comes to the little child, the little child 
knows the mother. You cannot deceive the child. And 
so it is with pure, simple, God-spiritualism. There is no 
superstition in it, and the credulity of a child need not be 
taxed. 

Q. Is not the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well 
authenticated, and by the same witnesses that confirm 
his death? 

A. No ; absolutely, no. We know, by nature, that 
if he ever lived, he died. We know also* by nature, 
that if he ever died to the body, the body never was res- 
urrected again. Nature never lies — always tells the 
truth. You cannot force nature into a lie. You may 
seem to, but it is only in seeming. 

Q. The spirit of criticism is a questioning spirit. Is 
there anything wrong in this, per se? 

A. Certainly not. On the contrary, something glo- 
riously right. Honest, earnest criticism should always 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND- 101 

receive attention. It is one of the great levers, I be- 
lieve, through which man marches up through the various 
sciences of life. Criticism ofttimes informs us of our 
mistakes, for it causes us to look deeper into self, deeper 
into our surroundings. It causes us to turn critics upon 
self, and therefore it is of the greatest possible service to 
us. Why, the world would be good for nothing without 
criticism. When I was here on earth, I was never satis- 
fied when the voice of criticism was silent towards me. I 
always felt that my effort had been so small that it was 
not worthy of criticism. But when it was most severely 
criticised, I felt that I had agitated the waters, out of 
which some good would come. 

By Theodore Parker, Dee. 9, 1867. 

Q. In controlling this medium, do you possess the 
body, as the spirit of the medium possesses it in her 
normal condition? 

A. No ; that is not necessary. I surround the body. 
I obsess it as the musical performer obsesses the musical 
instrument. The instrument gives forth no sound unless 
the musician is there, and playing upon the instrument. 
So with regard to this control. I surround the subject, 
and in surrounding her, I create an atmosphere peculiar 
to myself, which is in nearly all respects unlike her own. 
Therefore, she finding it not at all in natural harmony 
with her, generally retires, goes forth into the outer 
spirit-world, and becomes cognizant of scenes in that 
world. Sometimes it becomes necessary to become thor- 
oughly absorbed in the body. Then the mental atmos- 
phere is created within, and not without. I act then 
from within. But in this case I act as the musician 
would act upon the instrument. I surround the entire 
body. It is under my perfect control. 



102 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Then if the spirit of the medium does leave the 
body entirely, how long a time elapses that the body is 
devoid of spirit? 

A. It may be devoid of intelligence, or conscious 
existence, for a second, hardly more. All things are so 
nicely arranged that there will be no intermediate time, 
or scarcely any ; perhaps like the passing of a breath , 
but nothing more. I want you to distinctly understand 
that the animal life that is in activity belongs entirely to 
the animal form. That is distinct from intelligence. All 
the animal functions may be performed perfectly and har- 
moniously when there is no intelligence. Of that you 
are well aware. But I am speaking now with regard 
to the amount of time that will pass by the spirit here in 
unconsciousness. I say it may be like a passing breath, 
but a second of time. 

Q. Then could you not, if you chose, retain control 
of this body, and thus prevent the spirit of the medium 
from returning to it ? 

A. I certainly could. 

Q. Have spirits a fixed size? Does each spirit have 
its own peculiar form of organization, or are they all 
alike ? 

A. Every spirit possesses its own peculiar form of 
organization, its own peculiar stature. They are not all 
alike. You find here the child and the mature form. 
You find the tall man and the short man ; all the differ- 
ent characteristics of form as well as of mind. 

Q. How would the spirit of a tall man possess the 
form of a little child ? 

A. Generally by acting upon it by surrounding it as 
I do to-day surround this medium, or perhaps by influ- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 103 

encing one or two organs. It is not always necessary to 
influence the entire organic system. I generally do, but 
it is not always a necessity. 

Q. Then can a large person take control of the body 
of a small medium ? 

A. I did not intend you to so understand me. If a 
little child is sufficiently mediumistic to admit of my con- 
trol, I can control the child as I can the adult, only I 
cannot give the same amount of intelligence through the 
child, because the organs are not fully grown. You can- 
not play the same tune, or rather you cannot give the 
same amount of power through the flute as through the 
organ, yet both are music. You may play "Home, sweet 
home" upon both, but there is a difference in capacity. 

By Rev. Joseph Lowenthall, Dee. 10, 1867. 

Q. What is the history of the institution of the Sab- 
bath? How should it be passed, irrespective of sectarian 
prejudice ? 

A. During my earthly life I believed in the religious 
observance of the Jewish Sabbath. It was a part, and 
a very great part of my religion. But since I have as- 
cended from earth to the spirit-land, I have learned that 
God has sanctified and made holy all days, and that he 
requires absolute service and divine worship at the hands 
and hearts of all his children every day in the week. I 
have evidence which causes me to believe that the obser- 
vance of the Sabbath, both Jewish and Christian, origi- 
nated with those heathen worshippers whose religious his- 
tory dates very far back in the past. It belongs to those 
who look to the heavens, and behold there the only true 
representation of Deity ; and finding the only true repre- 



104 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

sentation of Deity, — that is, to their conception, — in the 
heavens, they worship their Deity in all sincerity and 
truth, in accordance with their belief. So, according 
to my belief, the Jews and the Gentiles have received 
these Sabbath ordinances from those whom both Jews 
and Gentiles denounce as heathen and idolaters. You 
have much to learn concerning worship, and' it may be 
that idol after idol will be dashed to the ground by the 
unerring hand of truth, in your case as they have been 
in mine. 

Q. What is the distance of the second sphere from 
the earth ? 

A. The second sphere, so called, is the sphere of 
mind — that can act independently of flesh and blood 
and bones. It is the sphere where the mind can exhibit 
a larger degree of power than while attached to mortality, 
and that second sphere is by no means any particular 
locality. It may be here in your midst, and it may be 
ten thousand miles away. Some theorists have deter- 
mined that the second sphere is a belt, w r hich is about sixty 
miles beyond the earth's atmosphere. They tell us that 
it measures so and so. They tell us what its atmosphere 
is ; but for my own part I have no evidence that the second 
sphere exists there any more than here. The mind be- 
comes to a larger extent free after death, and in its second 
sphere of action it may take up its abode sixty miles from 
the atmosphere of the earth and still be in the second 
sphere, or it may dwell here among its kindred on earth, 
and still be in the second sphere. Special localities belong 
more to the things of time or material life than to spirit- 
ual life. You will all learn this when you pass out of the 
mortal, and become more free in the spirit. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 105 



By Theodore Parker, Dec. 12, 1867. 

Q. It was recently declared, at a public meeting, 
that Theodore Parker, when in earth-life, was an oppo- 
nent of the Spiritual Philosophy, whereas his writings 
are strongly tinctured therewith. What is the truth in 
the matter? 

A. Theodore Parker, in the external, opposed modern 
Spiritualism, but in the internal he did not oppose it. 
There was a something within me which said, in plain, 
unmistakable terms, "There is a great truth in modern 
Spiritualism," but I could not accept the external mani- 
festations. I saw so much of chaff mixed up with what 
little good there really might have been, that I was not 
ready to accept any in my external reasoning. Neverthe- 
less, as I before remarked, in the internal I was a believer 
in Spiritualism, ancient and modern. Those who knew 
me best know that 1 often remarked that I believed there 
was a very great truth, a wondrous philosophy, underlying 
these crude manifestations. And I also believed that the 
world was not ready for such an exhibition of spirit- 
power. But I have learned many things since I passed 
beyond this human life. I have learned that God does 
not deal with his children according to their caprices. I 
have learned that nature and mind will march steadily on 
through the infinite law of progress, whether we will or 
no ; and we may denouce the manifestations of mind and 
matter as much as we may, it is all the same. It will 
snow, whether we will it or not. The sun will shine, 
w r hether it scorches us or not ; and so it is with regard to 
the manifestations of mind. Mind is free, and it will run 
on through the infinite law of progress just according to 
the law. We cannot change the law. We have not the 



106 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

slightest power over it. So these spiritual demonstrations 
I believe to be the result of law, infinite law, and that 
law does not only pertain to mind but to matter. It be- 
longs to the growth of the earth as well as to the growth 
of mind. It is an exhibition of both mind and matter, 
and we can no more control it than we can control the 
sunlight. We may shut it out from our own reasoning 
powers for a time ; but it will shine on all the same, and 
its power will be precisely the same, whether we close our 
senses to it or the contrary. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 16, 1867. 

Q. Can different individuals on earth be influenced 
by the same person or power in the spirit-land at one and 
the same time? 

A. Yes ; for instance, I can, through the power of 
psychology, psychologize any number of susceptible bodies 
at the same time. I can psychologize them upon one 
special point, or I can vary with them as I see fit. 

Q. In the same way that the mesmerizer operates 
upon his subjects? 

A. Precisely, only to a larger extent. A disem- 
bodied spirit has more power than one in the body : first, 
because they have a larger understanding of the laws 
controlling in the case; secondly, they are free from 
bodily diseases, and through the atmosphere and through 
the peculiar condition of the sensitive subject, can come 
in more direct and positive rapport with them than they 
could by any possibility do through the flesh. 

Q. What constitutes a person a medium ? 

A. A medium is simply a body that is sensitive to 
the od forces in the universe — forces which you do not 
thoroughly understand ; those that have not come within 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 107 

the sphere of human science ; those with which human 
science has not yet dealt. A medium possesses a peculiar 
quality of magnetism and electricity. The nervous sys- 
tem is generally very finely attuned, and it is constantly 
receiving from the external world, and as constantly 
throwing out. There is a peculiar atmosphere, mental 
and physical, surrounding every w r ell-developed medium, 
and whoso can enter that atmosphere becomes at once in 
rapport with the medium ; and whoso cannot enter it, 
cannot, by any possibility, come into rapport, and are 
shut out as virtually as if there were a wall of fire be- 
tween them. Mediums are, in other words, sensitive sub- 
jects, not only to the action of mind in the body, but to 
mind out of the body ; and particularly sensitive to mind 
out of the body. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 17, 1867. 

Q. If the spirit of the mortal dwells outside of the 
body, why do not clairvoyants perceive the spirit, or 
double, of man before death as well as after. 

A. Certain phases or degrees of clairvoyance have 
reached that point in science. Certain clairvoyants are 
able to perceive the spirit as well as the natural body. 

Q. Do you mean to say the spirit is outside of the 
body? 

A. No ; I did not say so. 

Q. That was the question. 

A. A short time since I answered a question relative 
to spirit-control. I was questioned as to whether I en- 
tered the body of the medium, or whether I controlled by 
psychology. My answer was, that in my case, there w T as 
what I saw fit to term an overshadowing. I overshadow 
the subject, and act upon it instead of acting through it. 



108 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

This is not always the case. The spirit that belongs by 
nature to the body, acts through it always ; but the for- 
eign spirit, who comes to use the body as a borrowed 
instrument, acts quite as often upon it as through it. You 
may call it psychology, or distinguish it by any other term 
you please ; it is an acting upon the instrument, giving 
forth my ideas from the internal to the external. I over- 
shadow and act upon the subject to those who may con- 
stitute my audience. The control is quite as perfect, 
sometimes more so ; indeed, I think I am better able to 
control in this way than by absorption. I could con- 
trol in that w T ay, but I do not think I could do as well. 
Do not understand me to declare that all spirits act in the 
same way ; for they certainly do not. 

Q. Does the spirit of the medium still remain in the 
body, in the case of this overshadowing? 

A:. Sometimes ; not generally. The spirit had gen- 
erally rather retire, for there is an instinctive conscious- 
ness on the part of the indwelling spirit that there will be 
more or less jarring between my spirit and her own, and, 
in order to avoid that, she retires, taking that as the bet- 
ter course. 

Q. It was said, at a late seance in this hall, that aged 
people require less sleep than the younger, because of a 
loss of magnetic force or life. Will the intelligence in- 
form us whether there is any remedy for this loss, or any 
means by which an increased magnetic force can be had ? 
If so, what is it? how and where is it to be found? 

A. No ; there is no remedy, except such as would go 
counter to nature. Nature has marked out her course for 
human life, and it is a very exact and wise course. As 
the body grows old, or becomes burdened by years, it 
parts with its magnetic life that it may the easier pass 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 109 

through death. Now, suppose it retained all its magnetic 
vitality to the last moment of its earthly life, what would 
be the result? Why, the most terrible struggle between 
the magnetic and electric forces ; consequently a very hard 
death. See how wise and humane Nature is to make the 
body part gradually with its magnetic forces, that it may 
pass easily through the change called death. And in 
your ignorance you ask to retain it. It would be the 
greatest of curses if you could. 

By Thomas Paine, Dec. 24, 1867. 

Q. Is it positively essential to the welfare of any per- 
son whatever to return after birth to spirit-life, and reas- 
sociate, through mediumship or otherwise, with mundane 
life? 

A. In some instances it is an essential to happiness in 
the spirit- world, and in others it is quite the reverse. 
Some find the path of duty leading directly to earth, 
others directly away from the earth and earthly conditions. 
The experience of one is not the experience of any other 
one. Ail souls progress according to their own inner 
capacities for progressing, and according to their own ex- 
ternal and internal law. No soul can unfold itself in 
exactly the same way as any other soul, being constituted 
differently ; yet the souls of all are essentially the same. 

Q. Do the appetites, passions, propensities, — in a 
word, the character, in earth-life, of the individual, ad- 
here to him when ushered into the spirit-realm, and ren- 
der it unavoidable that he shall, through the mediumship 
of those yet in the body, perfect his character? 

A. ^Precisely as death leaves you, so life in the spirit- 
world finds you. You are spiritually no different after 
death. You have only passed through a chemical change, 



110 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

which has affected the body and the spirit's relationship to 
the body, while the spirit itself remains precisely the 
same. The thief is still the thief, the liar is still the liar, 
the murderer is still the murderer, the drunkard is still 
the drunkard ; yet all these lower stratas of mentality the 
spirit can and will outgrow — pass beyond. It is not 
always necessary that the spirit should return to earth to 
take its first lessons in spiritual progress. Sometimes it 
is, but not always. 

By Father Henry Fitzjames, Dec. 30, 1867. 

Q. Is intellectual force or power only a modification 
of physical force or power ? Scientific men say that elec- 
tricity, heat, motion, and light are only different expres- 
sions of one and the same force or thing. Now, the 
question I ask is, Are all expressions of force, both intel- 
lectual and physical, only modifications of the same power? 

A. No ; certainly not. You would not consider 
thought simply a result of electrical motion. If you 
do, you have mistaken its true character. There is a 
marked and distinct difference between intellectual and 
physical power. 

Q. By the use of what instrumentalities can an indi- 
vidual most rapidly and permanently increase his intellec- 
tual activities and force? What special information can 
the controlling spirit give us on this very important 
matter? 

A, Knowledge is power, and it can be gained only 
by earnest thought and earnest endeavor. If you desire 
intellectual power, you must seek to unfold yourself 
through all the capacities of your being. A harmonious 
or well-rounded unfoldment is certainly best. Nearly all 
our, or I should say your, great minds have been un- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAXD. Ill 

folded only in one direction, — perhaps two or three, — 
and this at the expense of all the others. Jesus pos- 
sessed a very marked degree of harmonial development ; 
all the capacities of his nature seemed to be rounded into 
use. He was conversant w 7 ith the laws of Nature in the 
external world, with the laws of mind, and clairvoyantly 
went out into the spirit-realm. It is impossible to draw 
any lines by which the spirit, or mind, should be governed 
with regard to seeking knowledge. It should be sought 
from every source, and nowhere ignored. You should be 
willing to allow everything and every mind to be your 
teacher; and, in turn, you should be walling to teach all 
things and all minds. Seek to unfold all the latent ener- 
gies of mind, and, in all directions, be harmonious in 
your actions, and seek for wisdom from God's eternal vol- 
ume 4 that is open for all. 

By Theodore Parker, Jan. 2, 1868. 

Q. Is it well to disturb a medium in a circle, who is 
in a trance, quite unconscious and paralyzed, in order to 
wake her up ? Would it not be best to wait for the same 
pow r er to release her that placed her in that particular state ? 

A. Certainly. There is no power on earth, under 
certain conditions, that can arouse a medium from a thor- 
ough trance condition. It must be done by the same' 
power that passed them into the state. 

Q. Do the more progressed spiritual beings of our 
planet have the power to visit any of the other planets of 
our solar system ? and have any of the spiritual entities 
of any of the other planets of our system been known to 
come within the spiritual realms of our planet? and, if 
so, has there ever been an interchange of ideas between 
such intelligences? 



112 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. Yes ; there are certain far-reaching minds that 
could no more be content to exist with the simple amount 
of knowledge that could be gathered from one planet, 
than they could be content to exist, if it were possible, 
within the confines of a nutshell. They desire to know all 
that it is possible for them to know ; and finding that they 
have unlimited freedom in the spirit- world, they exercise 
it — they make use of it. It is not every soul that knows 
its powers. It matters not whether the soul be clothed 
with the flesh, or whether it have laid off the flesh, there 
are very few souls that fully realize the power that God 
has invested them with. The majority have no idea that 
they can go beyond the limits of this earth ; therefore 
they never make the attempt. But there are those who 
tell us they have visited many of the planets besides 
earth, and have become quite conversant with their con- 
ditions. 

By William E. Charming, Jan. 6, 1868. 

Q. Is God a power or soul permeating the universe, 
or a self-existent being, having habitation and personality 
with inconceivable capacities of knowledge, wisdom, and 
happiness ? 

A. I have no belief in a personal God, except as I 
believe in God as being personified through every con- 
ceivable form. I believe God is a power permeating all 
mind and all matter, and forever and forever changing all 
according to his own divine life. 

Q. Do the spheres exist as separate localities or one 
world, as the earth, presenting only a different aspect to 
different minds, soul-gravity and culture determining 
the society and scenery each one enjoys and earns ? 

A. The spheres spoken of by returning spirits are 



FROM TIIE SPIRIT-LAND. 113 

not localities, by any means, but they are conditions of 
mind, states of being. The spirit-world proper has 
been derived from the spiritual emanations of this world, 
therefore it is like unto it, only superior to it. 

Q. If spirits can or are to re-manifest in human form, 
can they choose as to that form, and to the extent of their 
past earth experience elect as to their hereditary and in- 
tellectual conditions ? 

A. The spirit-form changes according to the require- 
ments of the indwelling spirit, arid according to the powers 
and capacities of the indwelling spirit. 

Q. What generally becomes of families in spirit-life 
after a few centuries? Do they clan and cling together 
as on earth, or separate and become absorbed in the great 
family of mankind, or spirit-kind? 

A. Spirits are gathered together in groups, suiting 
their needs. Whatever kind of intellectual life I may 
be attracted to, there I shall gravitate ; and what is 
true in my case, is true in the case of every soul. If 
there is no natural or spiritual attraction between persons 
composing earthly families, they will separate in the spirit- 
world. ^ 

By William E. Charming, Jan. 7, 1868. 

Q. Will you give a scientific explanation and defini- 
tion of insanity ? 

A. Medical men inform us that insanity is simply an 
unbalancing of the physical and spiritual forces. They 
inform us that the cause is seldom found in the physical 
organism alone, but it is found with the forces that play 
upon the organs. Therefore it is very hard to know ex- 
actly how to treat the different kinds of insanity. They 
tell us it is a very subtle disease, sometimes appearing to 
8 



114 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

yield to remedial agents, and suddenly rising up again 
with more vigor than before. Medical men, in the spirit- 
world, not here, inform us that they are doing all it is 
possible for them to do towards enforcing their ideas of 
insanity upon the plastic brains of medical men on the 
earth. Those who are the most susceptible to spirit-influ- 
ences will receive their ideas first. I believe that the 
foundation of their theory is here : Insanity, lying in the 
imponderable forces, should be treated not as you would 
treat organic disease, but as you would treat spiritual dis- 
ease, or a disease running through the imponderable forces 
of the human body. Magnetism and electricity have been 
heretofore very little understood. They have been rec- 
ognized as existences, but their wondrous uses have never 
been sought out. Now, medical men inform us that mag- 
netism and electricity are the most powerful agents that 
can be used, if used understandingly, in all cases of in- 
sanity ; but, inasmuch as medical men have so small an 
understanding concerning these forces, it would not be 
safe for them to seek to make use of them till they have 
learned something more of them. Magnetism and elec- 
tricity stand as masters over humanity ; but when human- 
ity comes to know these agents, humanity will master 
them, bring out all their uses, and apply them to the 
needs of the suffering, 

Q. Can those who know their ancestors have been 
insane, prevent the same defect from expressing itself in 
themselves by education and self-discipline? 

A.. Medical men tell us that it is almost impossible to 
prevent hereditary insanity ; that is to say, unless you 
know just where to strike, you are very apt to strike in 
the wrong place. Now, as insanity, as I before re- 
marked, is located upon and through the imponderable 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 115 

forces, it is a most subtle disease, and does not become 
apparent often until it suddenly bursts upon you in all its 
fury. Medical men tell us that the seeds of insanity are 
very frequently sown at conception. Then it is called her- 
editary. It is transmitted from the ancestors down through 
a direct magnetic and electric line. If you know that 
your ancestors have been thus afflicted, the only proper 
and sure course is, if you wish to stay its progress, to 
avoid marriage. Medical men tell us that when once the 
disturbances are in the imponderables of the body, you 
can very rarely affect them for good, except at the time 
when they have shown themselves the most violently ; when 
they have reached a certain point, then you are able to 
affect them (if you know how to apply the agents), gen- 
erally very successfully. But even if you know that you 
have the seeds of insanity implanted within your being, 
you can do nothing towards eradicating them till they have 
shown themselves outwardly. Now this seems rather 
hard ; but those who seem to understand such things 
declare that it is absolutely true. 

By Joseph Lowenthall, Jan. 21, 1868. 

Q. During my experience of ten years as a healing 
medium, I have found many cases of disease induced by 
the close proximity of spirit-friends. And I believe a 
large amount of the physical suffering with which we 
meet is traceable in some way to this cause. I would 
ask if you can give us such an explanation as would help 
us to guard against such influences? Can we do any- 
thing, in conjunction with friends in the spirit-world, to 
prevent so frequent a recurrence of these cases. 

A. The only sure method of prevention known to us 
is this. Make yourself acquainted with the influences 



116 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

by which you are attended, and, through reason, dispel 
the clouds. If they are injurious to your physical and 
spiritual well-being, if you reason with them, they will 
depart. Knowledge is the only safe way by which to 
reach and overcome all the ills of life. The various 
churches scattered throughout the land are perpetually 
sending forth their cry against modern spiritualism, but 
they know as little concerning modern spiritualism as the 
snail knows of the stars. Yet they are constantly send- 
ing forth their anathemas, expecting thereby to annihilate 
modern spiritualism. If they would be successful in 
their cause, they must first seek to understand it, and 
then they may have some guarantee for success. So it is 
with regard to all laws in life. You are compassed about 
by an innumerable cloud of witnesses, unseen attendants. 
Some there be who come for good, and some for what 
you call evil. Some come to gain for themselves ; others 
come to give. Some come for the purpose of making 
themselves better — to find entrance to heaven. Others 
come expecting to w 7 reak vengeance upon those who have 
done them ill upon the earth, or whom they fancy have 
ill-treated them. There are all classes of spirits w r ho 
visit the earth. It is a great highway, and open to all. 
Now, then, it behooves you all, as spiritualists, as sci- 
entists, as moralists, as Christians, to seek to know con- 
cerning the powers by which you are surrounded. Then, 
if they produce injury to body or spirit, you will know 
how to repair it, and how to provide against it. 

Q. Can you, or do you ever dart thoughts into the 
mind of man, and he at the time be unaware of it? 

A. Certainly ; that is a very common occurrence. 
Mind is constantly giving out of its thoughts, and as 
constantly receiving from some other mind ; and as the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 117 

disembodied spirit has more power than the spirit em- 
bodied, and can with greater facility fasten its thoughts 
upon some other brain, so, in that respect, they are supe- 
rior to minds in the flesh, and can exercise a greater 
power over you than you can exercise over them. 

Q. Is there any other judgment day beside the last 
day of a man's life here on earth ? 

A.. Yes; every day of your lives is a judgment day. 
Every day which belongs to you as an individual, there 
is judgment passed concerning. All the acts of your 
lives are passed before the great judgment-seat, and each 
one determined upon. If they are evil, they bring their 
legitimate results. If they are good, they also bring 
their legitimate results. An evil tree cannot bring forth 
good fruit. Whatever you sow, that you will reap. 
There is no forgiveness for sins. You must pay the ut- 
termost farthing for all the mistakes of life. You will 
by and by learn that it is well ; for, did the great power 
in the universe suffer you to go without judgment when 
you make mistakes, you would hardly march on through 
the wondrous degrees of progress marked out for you as 
an intelligent spirit. 

Q. Do we have the celestial body that is spoken of in 
the Bible as soon as we die ? 

A. You have it before you die. It is with you now. 
It forms an ethereal, mystic covering for the nervous sys- 
tem, and it passes out, or is expelled from the body, by 
the electrical forces. When the magnetic force has de- 
parted, it is the business of the electric force to expel 
this spirit-body ; then you are born again. 

By Rev. George Whitefield, Jan. 21, 1868. 

Q. What is a proper, and what is an improper 
question ? 



118 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. All personal questions would be considered im- 
proper, at this place. 

Q. Under what conditions are spirits able to move 
ponderable bodies, organic or inorganic, through the at- 
mosphere ? 

A. Various conditions are necessary. First, it is 
necessary to bring the medium in spiritual or electrical 
rapport with the object you desire to move. Secondly, 
it is necessary to bring the will of the person who is the 
prime operator in the case in conjunction with the object 
to be moved, and with the medium. These three condi- 
tions, or parts of one, being perfect, any body, however 
ponderable, may be acted upon according to the capacity 
of the power that may be provided by the medium. 
Under some circumstances, a dry atmosphere is quite 
necessary; under others, a moist atmosphere seems to be 
better. 

Q. It has been said by a certain author, that medi- 
ums are generally somewhat mistaken with reference to 
the personal presence of spirits at circles. He states 
that it is more the reflective than the real presence, like 
the shadow upon a placid lake. Is that correct? 

A. Under some circumstances it is correct ; under 
others, wholly incorrect. Sometimes the spirit is pres- 
ent, and holds absolute control, in propria persona, of 
the medium ; at other times, the spirit may be thousands 
of miles away, and yet the medium may be under the 
control of that spirit. 

Q. In the petition presented, as I understood, to the 
Divine Being, what is the nature of the repentance 
referred to? 

A. It is a softened joy, which naturally follows the 
knowledge that we have been mistaken, and that we are 
now in the possession of truth. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 119 

Q. Does not repentance naturally imply that there 
is something to be repented of? something we have done 
wrong, that should be rectified? 

A. So it would seem. Repentance may be called 
the avenging angel, who deals with us for all the mistakes 
that we may make in life. 

Q. What is your opinion with regard to the nature 
of man ? Is it a duality or a trinity ? I have heard it 
said that we are three component parts — body, soul, and 
spirit. 

A. I believe while you are on the earth you are three 
in one. You have the physical body, which is the out- 
growth of earthly conditions, and you have the spiritual 
body, which is an outgrowth of your earthly body ; and 
you have the divine life, which is the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever. 

Q. With reference to repentance, am I to understand 
that it is a punishment, and not an act on the part of the 
one who exercises repentance ? 

A. Some consider it in that light, but I believe it is 
a natural result which follpws error. We are sorry that 
we have not seen the better way before, but at the same 
time we are glad that the lisrht is now with us. This 
seems to me to be repentance. I have myself repented 
sorely and sincerely over the errors of my past earthly 
life ; but at the same time I perceive a joy running 
through my repentance, which I believe to be the glorious 
liorht that has lifted me out of the darkness. I do not 
believe that repentance comes from the great and perfect 
Father of our spirit, in consequence of our fault itself; 
but I believe it follows our mistakes of necessity. If we 
infringe upon the laws that govern physical life, pain is 
the result, suffering is sure to follow. And so it is w T ith 



120 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

regard to all spiritual things. All spiritual mistakes may 
be called, I believe, and justly too, infringements upon 
the spiritual law of our spiritual natures, and to the same 
extent we .must suffer. We may call the suffering re- 
pentance, or by any other name. 

Q. I observe that you call the suffering repentance. 
I would ask, What is the cause of that? What is the 
spiritual influence that operates upon our spirit to pro- 
duce that sorrow and the subsequent joy ? 

A. I believe it to be the spiritual light which attends 
the consciousness of the soul who has attained a better 
state than the past. * I do not know that it is shed from 
any particular source. I believe it is born of the divine 
life of our own natures. 

Q. Are not sadness and suffering essential to the 
perfecting of the spirit under all circumstances ? 

A. I think so ; just as much as the storms that sweep 
over the earth are necessary to the unfoldment of the 
earth. 

Q. Can there be any growth without suffering? 

A. I think not. If the most perfect beings that we 
have any record of were capable of such intense suffer- 
ing as the record of their lives affirms, what have we 
the right to infer concerning suffering? Why, certainly, 
that it is a necessity. It may be called the key that 
unlocks the gates of heaven, and bids the spirit flee from 
past shadows. 

Q. Will this suffering continue to the after life ? 

A. I have seen the keenest of all sorrow in the spirit- 
world. You have sorrow here on earth, but it is dull 
and stupid when contrasted with that of the spirit- 
world. O do not be mistaken with regard to your 
future life. Do not suppose that it is one continuous life 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 121 

of joy, for I tell you it is not. The suicide who seeks to 
escape the sorrows of earth, hoping to gain the joys of 
heaven, wakes from a mistaken dream, to find himself 
ofttimes in deeper sorrow than when on earth. The 
shadow that belonged to him while here has followed him 
to the spirit-land, and by natural and perfect law he must 
outlive it. When we know concerning sorrow, we know 
how to flee from it ; but when it is a mystery to us, it 
lingers around us, and, like the shades of evening, re- 
fuses to depart till the morning light of knowledge 
streams in, and then, by natural necessity, it must depart. 

By Theodore Parker, Jan. 30, 1868. 

Q. What relation does Mesmerism bear to Spirit- 
ualism? 

A. It bears a very intimate relation ; so intimate, 
that you can scarcely tell where to divide the two. Mes- 
merism, or the mesmeric aura, may be called one of the 
most essential agents by and through which the disem- 
bodied or the embodied spirit acts upon any other spirit. 

Q. A lecturer at Music Hall, Boston, a few Sundays 
ago, stated that a shower of fresh and various flowers fell 
upon his bed, on which he was lying, at midnight, in 
severe weather in midwinter, and that the stems of the 
flowers appeared as if twisted off, and not cut, and as if 
torn by a current of electricity, leading to the conclusion 
that they had been conveyed to him from a warmer cli- 
mate, where they grew. It has hitherto been supposed by 
many that such and other productions were immediate 
formations, composed by spirit-power from the elements 
of our atmosphere. I would ask which process is the 
true one? 

A. They are both true. Sometimes, under certain 



122 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

conditions, those spirits who are conversant with the sci- 
ence of chemistry are able to form out of the atmosphere 

— your earthly atmosphere — flowers of different forms 

— their own spirit-forms. A great variety of flowers 
they are able to create out of the atmosphere. And 
sometimes we are told that the guardian spirits of me- 
diums bring them flowers from your earthly gardens. 
They are sometimes twisted from the parent stem by the 
electricity that is thrown upon them by the spirits who 
desire to possess themselves of the flower. You should 
understand that there are many chemists in the spirit- 
world, and they take great delight in making chemical 
experiments with regard to all the things of this world. 
They never allow an opportunity to pass without doing 
something towards informing themselves with regard to 
the nature of the earth, and its relations to their spirit- 
home. They want to know how much power they can 
have over all things here, and how much, in turn, you 
can have over them ; what they can do with the vegetable 
kingdom, the mineral kingdom, and the spiritual king- 
dom ; what they can do with all things here that pertain 
to mind or matter. So their experiments are constantly 
going on. 

Q. How do you explain the word w seer," as used by 
the ancients? 

A. Seer is another term for clairvoyance, or the spir- 
itual condition ; a condition in which the spirit can enter 
the past and future, as well as the present. 

Q. Did not these seers, being, as you say, "wiser 
than they knew," actually foretell events? 

A. Perhaps so. At all events they were not styled 
prophets. 

Q. Is anything impossible with God ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 123 

A. Certainly to me there is. The breaking of his 
own law would be an impossibility. He would destroy 
himself, and annihilate all the forms that are in being. I 
do not believe that God can step outside of himself. He 
must always live in his own being. To perform a mir- 
acle, according to my idea, he must step outside of him- 
self; he must trample upon his own law ; he must totally 
disregard all that which constitutes the law of life. No, 
I do not believe it is possible for God to create a world 
in six days, nor in six thousand years, nor in six hundred 
thousand years. No ; to me there are many things im- 
possible, even unto God. 

By Thomas Starr King, Feb. 4, 1868. 

Q. Is there a devil existing outside of the human 
mind? 

A. The greatest, the most perfect devil that we ever 
knew, had an existence in the human mind — in that por- 
tion of it that is the result of human education. The 
devil, as a distinctive personality, is a thing of time, a 
something that has been wrought out through your de- 
fective educational system. You are here educated, re- 
ligiously, morally, intellectually, and physically, and that 
portion which we call defective, which runs through the 
whole system entire, is that which has produced this per- 
sonal devil. It has made his horns, and his hoofs, and 
all his various appendages, and it has called upon hu- 
manity to exercise a fear concerning him ; but it is all 
the result of a false education. Those persons who have 
never been educated at all in such matters have no 
thought of a devil. 

Q. Is not science one of the greatest and most im- 
portant studies in the spirit-world ? 



124 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A.. It is the foundation of all true educational sys- 
tems. It is the only true basis upon which intelligence 
can rely for information, whether here or there. All 
spirits, when they become divested of the mortal form, 
and have risen beyond the prejudices incident to human 
life ; when they begin to desire to know more concerning 
themselves and their surroundings, at once start off, at- 
tended by science ; and this attendant never forsakes 
them. They are never satisfied with any demonstration 
that is not truly scientific ; that cannot be resolved to a 
clear point beyond dispute. And it would be far better 
for our religionists of earth, our moralists, and, indeed, 
far better for all classes of being, would they adopt a 
similar plan, and investigate therein by science. Let 
science be the basis of your religion, and worship at no 
shrine that is not a scientific shrine. When you do this, 
you will seldom have occasion to look back with regret 
over the many mistakes you have made. 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 6, 1888. 

We have a few words to say with regard to these let- 
ters. {The letters placed upon the table for answers 
by the invisibles.) There seems to be, to some extent, 
a misunderstanding with regard to them. Persons who 
receive indefinite and vague answers cannot understand 
why they do not receive clear and satisfactory answers, as 
their neighbors perhaps may get. 

The fault, in nine cases out of ten, lies with them- 
selves. They, not understanding the laws governing in 
the case, fail to obey them, therefore they are disap- 
pointed in their answers. It should be understood that 
but a very short time, say a few seconds, can be devoted 
to any one letter, and for this reason : A certain amount 



FROM TEE SPIRIT-LAND. 125 

of magnetic power is abstracted and used from the me- 
dium in the answering of the letters. Those who are in 
control know just how much can be taken without injury 
to the subject, and it must be divided according to the 
demands of each letter; some require more, some less. 
But if there is no power by which the letter can be an- 
swered, there certainly can be no answer. Now, in order 
to insure an answer which will be to any extent satisfac- 
tory, each letter should contain only oue question, or two 
at most. And those questions should be of a character 
that can be answered by some one of the spirit-friends 
whom the writer may have in the world of souls. Many 
of the questions, we are sorry to say, are of a very friv- 
olous character, pertaining more to the things of this 
world than to the things of the other ; more to mundane 
circumstances than to the circumstances of the soul. 
For instance, Mr. B. asks, "Shall I marry Mrs. C. ? " 
Now look at the absurdity of the thing. And vice versa. 
One man asks, " Shall I sell certain goods at such a 
price?" Another asks, " Will I be successful in such an 
undertaking ? " Another, w Shall I go west ? " Another, 
"Shall I go east?" And another, "Shall I receive a 
letter from such a friend at such a time?" All sorts of 
such questions are asked. Do you suppose the inhab- 
itants of the spirit-world have nothing better to do than 
to return here as penny-posts in those matters about 
which you can better answer yourself than they can ? 
In all matters of vital interest your friends will respond 
heartily, when they can come into rapport with the sub- 
ject who is answering letters, and truthfully too. But 
where your question is of a vague, uncertain, lifeless 
character, the answer will of course be correspondingly so. 
If you want good answers, write good questions. 



126 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Remember this. It is for your good that we speak. 
You want truth, and the highest, the best that can be 
given you. Then, in seeking for it, seek in the highest 
and best possible manner ; for only through your own 
good efforts can good results be brought to you. Re- 
member that you are of as great a necessity in this soul- 
communion as are those who stand out of your sight. 
You are at one end of the wire, they at the other. If 
you allow yours to drop, do not perform your part of 
the duty, how can you expect that they will be able to 
do theirs and yours also? You cannot do their part of 
the work, neither can they do yours. Now, understand 
us to say that all questions having a bearing upon your 
highest interests, asked in honesty, in sincerity, to gain 
wisdom, to get good or do good, will always be honestly, 
if not clearly, answered. Clearness will be in corre- 
spondence to the nearness and power of the spirit you 
have called upon to answer. If they can come within 
the immediate sphere, and control personally, then your 
answers can but be satisfactory ; but sometimes they are 
answered by proxy. Those you call upon cannot come, 
perhaps, within even the outer circle, and many mediums 
may be used in transmitting their answer down to this 
mundane sphere. In some instances, again we tell you, 
they come into personal communication; then your an- 
swer is generally very clear. We hope we shall not be 
obliged to revert to this subject again. We w r ant to do 
you all the good we can. We want to open the way for 
you just as fast as you are ready to walk in it. We 
want to lead you gently over the rough places of life. 
We ask, in turn, your love, your good wishes, not only 
to us, ibut to all by whom you are surrounded. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 127 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 10, 1868. 

Q. Are we subject to changes in spirit-life similar to 
death in the earth-life? If so, what is the length of a 
spirit's life up to that change ? 

A. The spirit is constantly passing through different 
changes, gradations of mind, as well as matter. There 
seems to be no special time appointed for any definite 
change to come to any spirit. These come in accordance 
with the needs of the spirit always. 

Q. What is the law of classification in spirit-life ? Is 
nationality the distinction, as on earth? In other words, 
are we distinguished as English, French, German, &c. ? 

A. The peculiar characteristics of the mortal dwell- 
ing-place of the spirit are carried by the spirit to the 
spirit-world, consequently the American is the American 
still, the Scotchman is the Scotchman still, the Negro 
is still the Negro, the Indian is still the Indian. To be 
sure there is a very great difference between American 
spiritual and American physical life, yet when resolved 
to characteristics, we find them almost identical. It will 
be very easy for you to detect one of your own nationality 
even after death. 

Q. What is the language of spirit-life ? Surely if 
spirits have vocal organs they must have language. 

A. The language corresponds to the needs of the 
spirit. In the spirit-world sight is changed to perception. 
Language, to a very great extent, is bound to the law of 
perception. And yet it is a distinctive feature. There 
is sound in the spirit-world. It is not all silence, by no 
means. There is form. Forms change. There is a 
great variety of sounds. All the different languages of 
earth, as of all the inhabited planets, are represented in 



128 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the spirit- world. Language has a spirit, as the flower 
has a spirit. The spirit of the flower is the fragrance or 
peculiar exhalations of the flower. Language has its 
exhalations, its atmosphere, its spirit, and it is that that 
exists after the spirit passes out of the body. It is that 
that goes with the spirit. It is that that the spirit 
employs in communion with its fellows after death. 

Q. You say there are sounds in the spirit- world. 
Are they echoes from the earth, or are they caused by 
spirits in the spirit-world? 

A. They are not echoes from the earth, by no means. 
Sound also has its spirit, its pure, its more glorified part, 
and it is that that the spirits make use of. You have 
your musical sounds here. We have ours there. Ours 
are the more ethereal, the more glorious, the more beauti- 
ful, the more perfect. Every peculiar sound on earth 
sheds its own peculiar atmosphere, or light, or spirit, and 
it is that that spirits make use of in the spirit-world 
proper, or in that condition of life which follows the 
change called death. 

There being no further questions, the intelligence 
remarked, — 

We have received a question from certain parties who 
had rather an extensive part in the late rebellion. The 
question is this : " What do the spirits — that class of 
spirits who, we are told, are watching over the destinies 
of this nation — believe with reference to the right of 
Congress to legislate for the Southern States ? In their 
opinion, is it right or wrong? " 

A very few plain common sense words will define our 
position. In looking beyond the mere external of the 
question propounded for our consideration, we find that 
those who have propounded it are standing still upon 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 129 

rebellious ground, so far as this government is concerned. 
They still hold to their peculiar notions which plunged 
this nation into civil war, and they are as loath to give 
them up as a mother would be to consign her baby to the 
flames. They seem to hold it as something sacred to 
themselves, a something they have a right to hold. 
Well, no one questions the right, when considered from 
one stand-point ; but when considered from another, 
every honest, loyal heart will question the right. 

Let us pause and consider, for a moment, what was 
surrendered when General Lee and General Johnston 
surrendered to the Union army. Was it merely a few 
military traps ? Or was it something deeper, something 
of more value, something of more vital importance? To 
my mind it was the latter. One of the chief notions 
held by the South before the rebellion — and it is holden 
to-day as then — is this : the right of state sovereignty ; 
that every state should make its own laws and govern 
its own internal affairs ; but they seem to forget that this 
can be done only in harmony of the national constitution 
with the general government. Now, as this notion of 
state sovereignty was one of the chief features leading to 
civil war, one for which they fought, — so they tell us, — 
of course that, with other rights, was surrendered at the 
time that Lee and Johnston surrendered to Grant. The 
rebellious states virtually said, " We lay at your feet, 
subject to your disposal, all that which has fed this civil 
war, and that which bred it. We are civilly and 
politically at your disposal." The surrender, in plain 
words, meant this : " You are the strongest party ; we 
are the weakest. You consider that we have been in 
rebellion against the government. You have fought 
9 



130 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

against us. You have won. We can fight no longer. 
We surrender. Do with us as seemeth good to you." 

Now if the right of State sovereignty was surrendered 
at that time, the loyal people of the Northland Congress 
have the right to legislate for the States at the South that 
have been in rebellion. Who gave them the right? 
Why, the South gave it to them. It is vain to argue 
that the Constitution provides differently ; we remember 
that those who have been in rebellion w r ere outlaws to the 
Constitution. The Constitution has been set at nought 
by them. They have trampled it under their feet. They 
have not recognized the demands of the government. 
They have gone to war against it ; and because they did, 
they became outlaws. They have no right to make 
laws, not even for themselves. They have, so far as 
politics are concerned, cut themselves off from the gov- 
ernment, and they should be willing to wait and see how 
government will dispose of them. So far it has been 
very lenient, almost too much so. We see that Congress 
is right in the course it has taken in that matter. Con- 
gress has the right to legislate for these rebellious States. 
They have no right to legislate for themselves. They 
have given no proof that they are loyal, or that they will 
be — none that is sufficient. Time and good works, 
unbroken faith, are the only remedies that can be looked 
for with any degree of hope in their case. The nation is 
to-day passing through a greater struggle than it was 
passing through three, four years ago. Clouds hang 
more heavy to-day than they hung then. Notwithstand- 
ing one great cloud, one mighty stain, has been wiped 
away, yet there are others to be disposed of. The war 
of mind is more terrible than the war of the sword. 

Before closing, we would request that the friends who 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 131 

have forwarded us the question we have just briefly con- 
sidered, if they are not satisfied with our answer, con- 
tinue the subject farther. Let us see what they have to 
say — how far they can defend themselves. It is possi- 
ble we may change tactics, but we do not expect to. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Feb. 11, 1868. 

Q. If this Spiritualism is what it purports to be for 
the uplifting of humanity, ought not our mediums to be 
surrounded by the highest type of intellectual and moral 
civilization, so that spirits of the highest order can mani- 
fest through them ? 

A. That condition is certainly something to be desired, 
but it is not absolutely a necessity. The returning spirit 
does not make use of the moral law belonging to the 
media. It only makes use of the physical law. The 
physical body only becomes an instrument in the hands 
of the foreign spirit. But if all mediums were sur- 
rounded in their earthly lives by good influences, — those 
that you call high and holy, — then they would always 
attract to themselves, by virtue of those surroundings, 
the higher ; but the lower would find it very hard to 
come. That which w-ould prove such an excellent agent 
for the one, would prove a most formidable obstacle to 
the other. A wise Providence has made selection of its 
subjects you call mediums from the middle strata of life. 
Jesus was found eating and drinking with publicans and 
sinners. So frequently was he in their company that his 
opponents called him a wine-bibber. He stood between 
the high and the low. Angels ministered unto him from 
above, devils came unto him from below. He preached 
to the one, he received from the other. If you will ob- 
serve closely, you will find that it has always been thus. 



132 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Our mediums are carefully selected from the middle strata 
of human life, for from that plane they can be made 
capable of doing the most good. They can receive the 
most, they can give the most from that plane. 

" There is a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them as we may." 

There is a power behind all life which shapes and 
fashions all things, all thoughts, all exhibitions of mind 
and matter, and whether we trust it or doubt it, it will 
move on its mighty course just the same. 

By William E. Channing, Feb. 13, 1868. 

Q. What are the claims of Spiritualism, when viewed 
in the light of a common test, which is as fair for one 
class as for another, viz.: "the tree is known by its 
fruits"? 

A. The claims of Spiritualism are as wide, as deep, 
as high, as Spiritualism is itself. Spiritualism claims 
homage from all things — true Spiritualism, not that 
which is such only in the exterior, but that which is such 
in its internal life. The opponents of Spiritualists and 
Spiritualism sometimes determine very harshly concerning 
the " ism " and the w ists." They tell us they have not de- 
termined unwisely or unrighteously, for they have judged 
by their fruits which they perceive. That is right. Spirit- 
ualists should be judged, and should expect to be judged, 
by the fruit they bear, by the moral light which they are 
able to shed upon humanity, by the golden age which they 
are expected to usher in. Spiritualists should expect to 
be weighed in the balance of public opinion, and if they 
are found wanting they should remember that not they 
alone will suffer, but the holy cause which they represent. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 133 

It behooves every one who claims communion with the 
angels to walk honestly, uprightly in that faith, keeping 
the golden rule where they can see it, making it a part 
of their lives, ever being in harmony with it, and never 
at any time suffering themselves to be in antagonism to 
it. When considered in conjunction with the external 
unfoldings of some Spiritualists, Spiritualism will bear 
no test whatever. If it were dependent upon some of its 
exponents for merit, for real value, it would be found 
sadly wanting ; but thanks be to God, it does not depend 
upon any "ist " whatever. Inasmuch as it is pure and 
undefiled itself, it can march through the ages unsoiled, 
and those persons who are able to look beyond the mere 
bubbling, foaming surface, can see it in its* purity. 
Spiritualism, or spiritism — and Spiritualists differ — 
there is a wide line of demarcation between the two. 
One is a mere shadow, the other is the reality. In order 
to test Spiritualism, in God's name do not test it through 
Spiritualists. Throw it into the scale in all its purity, 
and weigh it, and it cannot be found wanting. 

Q. Is the mind, or that power or principle called 
intellect, a separate organism, or does its action or growth 
depend on the spiritual organization for its objective ex- 
pression, as spirit depends on matter for its medium of 
expression ? 

A. Mind is almost entirely dependent upon the for- 
mation of the external body for expression. It is the 
medium between spirit and crude matter. It is a mirror 
through which the spirit reflects itself upon matter, and 
its capacities are increased or decreased in correspondence 
with the increase or decrease of harmonious matter. It 
belongs to matter. 

Q. Can you give me a clear, perspicuous definition of 



134 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the connecting relations of the three principles, matter, 
spirit, and mind? 

A. Spirit I believe to be the all-pervading presence 
called life. Mind, as I before remarked, I believe to be 
the medium between spirit and matter ; matter the machine 
through which the spirit manifests — through the medium 
of mind — while in the external life. As the spirit passes 
on, or changes states of being, it becomes less and less 
dependent upon crude matter for its expressions. It is 
dependent upon matter for its expression even in the spirit- 
world, but not the class of matter that it is dependent upon 
while here. It is so refined that human senses take no 
cognizance of it whatever ; but yet it is matter. 

By John Pierpont, Feb. 20, 1868. 

Q. Is a spirit, after leaving the body, as emphatically 
an independent individuality as when in the body ? 

A. It certainly is. There are two distinctive individ- 
ualities ; one belonging to earth and earthly experiences 
and conditions, and the other belonging exclusively to the 
soul, to spirit experiences and conditions. The spirit car- 
ries with it the effects of its individuality here — that 
which belonged to it while here in the body. These 
effects it outworks in deeds in the spirit- world. But the 
individuality that belongs more properly to the spirit in 
its spiritual condition is more fully expressed after death 
than before. Here in this life the earthly individuality is 
in the ascendant. After this life is passed, and you take 
on the second sphere of change, then the spiritual indi- 
viduality gains the ascendant over the material. It is 
not sudden ; it comes by slow and distinct degrees, but it 
is sure to come — the individuality, understand us to say, 
that belongs to the soul, through which the soul proper, or 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 135 

spirit, expresses itself, that gains the ascendency after 
death. Before death the earthly individuality is in activi- 
ty. Its power is superior to the individuality of the spirit, 
because of earth and its laws. Earth calls for earthly 
individuality. Its laws demand it, and they are just as 
exacting and unerring as are divine laws. 

Q. Then I infer that the earthly individuality must 
gradually lose its identity. 

A. Yes, that is true. The earthly individuality gradu- 
ally loses its identity, precisely after this fashion : You 
have lost the identity of childhood ; it has gone from you. 
You have another, the identity of manhood. So it is 
with regard to the spirit. You do not suddenly pass 
from childhood to manhood. No. The degrees come 
slowly and steadily upon you. So it is with regard to all 
individualities. Individuality is but a succession of states 
of being that belong either to the spirit or to the material 
life. 

Q. Then is not this the reason why our friends who 
have passed away do not in their communications give us 
more positive evidence of their earthly individuality ? 

A. It certainly is the reason. If they give you any 
evidence at all of their earthly individuality, they give it 
through memory and in symbols. Those who have not 
outlived their earthly individuality can give a very clear 
expression of it, because they still retain it ; but when they 
have done wnth it — gone beyond, outlived it — it is quite 
another thing. You cannot talk to me as vou could in 
childhood. I cannot talk to you as I would in childhood, 
but yet you say you are the same person. Now, that is 
not so. You are quite another being. If your identity 
depended upon outward expression, surely the identity 
which belonged to you and to me is ours no longer. We 



136 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

are constantly passing through changes, and each one 
takes something of what we had and substitutes some- 
thing we have not had before. 

Q. Then are we not changing our individuality every 
day? 

A. You certainly are. For instance, a man may 
this season live in a certain political individuality ; he may 
be wedded heart and soul to the republican party. All 
his political interests may turn in that direction. By 
and by he begins to see that there is a something better. 
He begins to change his views, again to revolve, and he 
at length loses that particular individuality and gains 
another. And his friends who knew him last year as a 
republican, this year know him as quite another thing. 
O, yes, you are constantly changing ; and for my own part 
I thank God for it. I would not revolve in a half bushel 
throughout eternity, not if I could. I do not expect to 
retain the same views of anything — of heaven, of my- 
self, or of God — years in the future that I retain now. 

Q. I would ask, in regard to the letters addressed to 
spirits, whether those answers are generally given by the 
one addressed, or by some other spirit? 

A. This is almost always done by proxy. For in- 
stance, one spirit is selected who can, at the time, best 
come into rapport with the medium. That spirit receives 
the answers that those called upon may be disposed to or 
can give. In some instances they are very indistinct, be- 
cause they cannot understand what they should do in the 
matter. Others are very distinct, because they know all 
about the modus operandi, and come very near, or in 
rapport, with the medium. Sometimes the spirit called 
upon in the letter comes in direct rapport, and answers 
the letter; but this is the exception, not the rule Let 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 137 

me illustrate more perfectly. Fancy yourself in an as- 
sembly acting as scribe, receiving answers to questions 
that may have been put by some one in the assembly or 
out of it. For instance, Mrs. B. says in her letter, "My 
dear husband, can you respond to my call?" The spirit 
scribe calls upon that person. If they are present and 
can answer, of course they do. If they are absent, gen- 
erally no reply is written upon the letter. Or, if present, 
perhaps they give an indefinite answer. Sometimes they 
do not know how to answer the questions half so w r ell as 
any one in the audience would ; and yet you suppose, 
many of you, because they are freed from mortality they 
are endowed with wisdom concerning all matters that be- 
long to you here. It is not so. Whatever they know 
concerning your earthly affairs, they must know through 
distinct mediumistic lines of thought and intelligence, and 
in no other way. Now, then, considering this to be a 
scientific fact — which it is — you should not wonder at 
the vagueness and indistinctness of many of the answers 
that are given to your letters. It depends entirely on 
the condition of the subject, the person called upon, and 
the person who has dictated the question. It is a triune 
affair, and if one happens to be faulty, the others must 
be correspondingly so. 

Q. If there are two distinct individualities, one ma- 
terial and the other spiritual, of course the sounds that 
emanate from spiritual forms do not reach us externally. 
How, then, do we take cognizance of them? 

A.. You are all spiritual mediums, every one of you, 
and in this sense : Your spiritual individualities are con- 
stantlv taking more or less cognizance of the things that 
belong to the spirit- world. That individuality is more in 
rapport with the spirit-world than with this, more in rap- 



138 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

port with higher things than with the things of this life. 
Therefore when holy thoughts steal over you, thoughts 
of some dear, absent one, there is a communion then go- 
ing on between two spirits. The individuality of your 
spirit has called to the individuality of the friend in the 
spirit-land, and nine times out of ten there must be a 
response. 

Q. I do not understand these two individualities clear- 
ly. When I attach my individuality to the things spirit- 
ual, I am spiritually conscious of that fact; but when to 
things material, my individuality becomes material in con- 
sequence. 

A. O, no. You do not understand us. You have 
two thoroughly distinct individualities. One takes cog- 
nizance of the things of the other life — is shaped by 
those things ; the other takes cognizance of the things 
of this life, and is shaped by these. Both are distinct. 
One belongs to your spirit, the other to your animal 
existence. 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 24, 1868. 

Q. Do male and female spirits mate in marriage, as 
on earth, or analogous to it? 

A. Yes ; notwithstanding it is said in the, holy Scrip- 
tures that c? in heaven they neither marry nor are given in 
marriage." It is true that there is not that kind of mar- 
riage that is current here, and I thank God for it. But 
there is a kind which is in itself so divine and so perfect, 
that two souls are merged in one, and the harmony is 
complete. 

Q. One man passes from earth well developed in his 
moral and spiritual organs. Another passes away in an 
undeveloped condition. The first returns to earth full of 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 139 

joy, and tells us that he moves in an atmosphere of light. 
The other likewise returns, but complains that he dwells 
in darkness. Is the light and darkness spoken of an 
actual local condition of the atmosphere, applicable alike 
to all soul existences, or does it grow out of the condi- 
tion of each individual spirit? 

A. It is a mental condition, not an atmospheric con- 
dition. You have thousands, millions of souls on the 
earth who are in darkness, just the same kind of dark- 
ness — notwithstanding the sun may shine ever so bright- 
ly — that exists with souls after death. It is precisely 
the same. They do not understand themselves ; thay do 
not understand their surroundings ; they do not seem to 
know what they had better do to gain happiness. They 
desire it, but know not how to reach it. That is the very 
worst kind of darkness. 

Q. Will you explain the difference between trance 
and inspirational control ? 

A. The difference is in degree. If I wish to control 
a subject inspirationally, I do not obsess that subject, 
either from the external or the internal, but I simply 
come in rapport with the subject, and. through that mag- 
netic rapport I give the subject my ideas, and they are 
given out by the subject in his or her own clothing af- 
ter the capacity of their own intellect. Do you under- 
stand ? 

Q. Yes ; but it only answers half my question. 

A. There are also different degrees of what is called 
trance control. Sometimes the spirit controls by over- 
shadowing or surrounding the subject, as I do to-day. 
Sometimes they are absorbed by the subject, and express 
themselves from the internal to the external. Sometimes 
one organ, or two, or more, as the case may be, is con- 



140 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

trolled, while others are left in an entirely normal state. 
Sometimes all the organs are controlled thoroughly. I 
do so to-day, although I surround the subject, and con- 
trol through the external, as the musician controls the 
instrument. He does not enter it in the external ; he 
controls it, and it answers his purpose, becomes his agent. 

Q. When you enter or obsess the medium, is the 
spiritual part of the medium externalized from the form ? 

A.. Yes, it is very often the case. The animal mag- 
netism is never absent from the body. It is a part of 
the body, and cannot be absent without producing the 
chemical change called death. But the intelligent mag- 
netic part, with its organic structure, that which belongs 
to it as a spirit, can absent itself from the body, and very 
often does, particularly when the body is under the con- 
trol of a foreign spirit. 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 25, 1868. 

Q. In the Banner of Light of January 11, the con- 
trolling spirit says, "Many of the planets have passed 
out of their material into their spiritual orbits, as the earth 
will do by and by." Will you give a more definite ex- 
planation of this statement? 

A. Planets, as well as spirits, have an inner and an 
outer life. It has been said, and truthfully too, that all 
things have a soul. This being true, the planets cannot 
be an exception ; it pre-supposes that there will come a 
time in the experiences of planetary life when each shall 
pass out of the material orbit into a spiritual one — one 
which shall become so ethereal, so spiritual, so far re- 
moved from crude matter, unrefined matter, as to be able 
to sustain only spiritual existences. It is a well-known 
geological, scientific Tact, that the animals that existed 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 141 

upon this planet thousands of years ago could by no 
means exist here to-day, because the planet has grown 
more spiritual. It has ascended from a rude, undeveloped 
material, into a more refined spiritual condition; and it 
will continue to ascend — that is the law. It is the law 
of all things, planets and souls. This has been proved 
beyond question ; not by souls on earth, surely, but by 
those who have passed beyond earth. But everything 
moves on in slow and distinct degrees, so slow that your 
human senses can scarce take cognizance of the move- 
ment, except by comparing past and present. You cannot 
understand that this earth is not to-day what it was yes- 
terday. But it is so much nearer the spiritual plane. 
You say, " Why, it seems to me to be just the same." 
So it is, when weighed and measured in the balances of 
finite reason ; but when weighed and measured by infinite, 
immutable law, it is not the same. Understand us to 
affirm that all planets, all things — it matters not what, 
from the grain of sand under your feet to the worlds in 
the spaces — which you cannot reach with the external 
vision, are all possessed of souls, inner lives, germs which 
propel them out of crude materialism into spiritual exist- 
ence. They change their forms and their conditions to 
correspond with the needs of their inner being. When 
the soul, the germ that exists despite all the storms of 
physical life, which outlives all, when it can no longer 
manifest itself, unfold itself through these physical forms 
— then — what then? Why, it enters another orbit, and 
revolves there till it has performed its mission ; then it 
enters another — and I believe there is no bound to it. 
I can find no starting-place for matter ; I can find no 
place where it ends. 



142 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Theodore Parker, March 2, 1868. 

Q. I notice in many of the communications to your 
circle, and published in your paper, the spirits say it is 
hard to come back — to communicate to us here, I sup- 
pose. With some it costs them great exertion and much 
trouble or labor ; others study a long time the way to 
get back before they learn it ; some have just learned that 
such a thing was possible, &c, &c. I wish to ask how 
this is, when they have been communicating with us here 
for so long a time, and all over the world? 

A. While an idea is struggling through its imperfect 
or incipient stage, that idea finds it very hard to express 
itself, even though under somewhat favorable conditions. 
All kinds of growth are such by virtue of the struggle 
they pass through. Everything that is growing is strug- 
gling. The little shoot that comes up out of the ground 
in spring struggles to break through the surface of the 
earth, that the sun may warm it into greater strength. 
So it is with regard to all kinds of growth — mental, 
moral, vegetable, physical, animal, spiritual; every kind 
of growth is subject to this rude experience. Now, it 
should be remembered that nearly all the intelligences 
that come to this place to communicate, are such as have 
not the sympathy of their friends to whom they come. 
They do not believe that they can return. They come 
and throw their wish upon the waters of human life, pray- 
ing that it may receive a favorable answer. They know 
that they shall meet cold unbelief in most cases ; and, 
knowing this, it is very hard for them to communi- 
cate. When the desire on the part of the earthly friend 
is earnest for them to come, it is generally far easier for 
the spirit to come en rapport with the medium and com- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 143 

municate ; but even under the very best conditions it is 
sometimes hard. The returning spirit fears to pass through 
the struggle, which is in some respects like unto death. 
This return, this being clothed upon with mortality again, 
is by no means an easy thing. It is generally fraught 
with fear, encompassed about with a certain doubt and 
fear that the spirit cannot at first overcome. Indeed, 
there are a variety of conditions that the spirit is obliged 
to come in harmony with, in order to communicate with 
the friends it has left on earth, and sometimes, as often 
as it overcomes one, another, and a still greater, presents 
itself, till the spirit gets weary and retires. 

By Lorenzo Dow, March 3, 1868. 

Q. Does Lavoisier continue his experiments on the 
crystallization of carbon? and did he arrive at a satisfac- 
tory result? If so, is he willing to communicate his ex- 
periments to mortals ? 

A. Here you are again, as of old, you mortals, ask- 
ing to know how you can enrich yourselves with the 
things of this world — with the toys that pass out of your 
hands perhaps at the next breath. w How shall we crys- 
tallize carbon in order to make it valuable ? " This chem- 
ist, who threw away a large portion of his best energies 
in this direction, is in one sense very sorry that he did 
so, because he did so from w r rong motives ; and in an- 
other he is very glad, because it has led him out of cer- 
tain dark places into lighter ones. He would inform you, 
were he here speaking, no doubt, that if there are any 
individuals on the earth who desire to know what he 
knows with regard to this subject, simply because they 
desire to gain good and to do good, he will exercise all 
the powers of his being to transmit that knowledge to 



144 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

them. But if they desire it from selfish, unwise purposes, 
he would be the last spirit to return, giving that knowl- 
edge. Carbon in the coal and carbon in the diamond, 
we are told, are precisely the same. But the crystalliza- 
tion depends upon the peculiar soil in which it is found, 
upon atmospheric and climatic conditions, upon the pecu- 
■ liar condition that exists between the rays of light and the 
soil where the carbon exists. If you can ascertain just 
how to regulate this natural machine, you have effected 
your desire. If you can talk to the sun, and find out 
how he will send down just such a peculiar kind of light 
and shade as you need to crystallize the carbon here in 
this northern clime, perhaps you can make diamonds. 
But if the sun could speak, I rather think he would be 
pretty likely to tell you that he and the soil — for instance, 
of Brazil — can do far better in that way than all the 
chemists on earth, or in the spirit spheres. 

By Theodore Parker, March 5, 1868. 

Q. Will you explain the difference, if any exists, be- 
tween the will-power and mesmeric influences ? also their 
different modes of operation ? 

A. The will-power in each individual differs accord- 
ing to the capacities of the individual, and yet it is will- 
power, after all. The will-power that the mesmerist ex- 
ercises over the mesmeric subject is simply will-power. 
It is his or hers. The will-power that belongs to the sub- 
ject is will-power ; nothing more nor less. But it belongs 
to the mesmeric subject, not to the mesmeric operator. 
Will-power is that force by which all spiritual motion is 
made. It is the life of intellect, mental motion ; without 
it there could be no exercise of mentality. 

Q. The material universe, and, as far as we can un- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 145 

derstand, the spiritual universe also, are governed by fixed 
laws. Now, law implies a law-maker, or, in other words, 
an intelligence. Is that intelligence an individualized 
intelligence ? If not, in what sense are we made in the 
image of God, and after his likeness? God being as- 
sumed to be the name of the author of these laws by 
which all things are governed ? 

A. Your correspondent, like thousands of others, is 
laboring under a great mistake when he confounds God's 
laws with human laws ; for human laws pre-suppose the 
existence of a law-maker, but it is not so with divine 
laws. To my mind, the law of life is the God of life ; 
the power by which all life is expressed and perfected. It 
is the personification of the divine power ; wherever you 
see it, under whatever conditions it manifests, it is God. 
The law operating in soils, in minerals, in the atmosphere, 
in the water, in the skies, everywhere is God. There is 
no power outside of this law that we can recognize as 
God. No great intelligence fashioned with a human body. 
By no means ; and the sooner you cast off this mental 
and theological darkness, the sooner you wall rise into 
clearer light. I know it is almost impossible for the hu- 
man mind to conceive of law without conceiving of a 
Jaw-maker ; but I know, also, that the impossibility arises 
from your education here, and from nothing else. You 
go to work here, and you make laws for the various de- 
partments in life, There is the maker. There is the 
law. It is not so with the law that governs in the uni- 
verse. It is not so with the law that holds you and me 
in our proper places. It is not so with that power which 
determines concerning our well-being. It is a power, an 
all-pervading existence, that has all forms for its own, but 
claims no speciality of form whatever. Man is made in 
10 



146 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the image of God simply because he holds within his 
physical form all the elements that exist in the universe. 
There is nothing, no kind of life, that man in the physical 
does not hold within himself. He is a microcosm of all 
beneath him, and stands as the crowning glory of crea- 
tion. In this sense, and in this alone, may he be said to 
be created in the image of God. Because created in the 
image of all things beneath him, he represents all things, 
hold^all things, embraces everything. In this sense is 
he in the image of God. 

By Rev. Joseph Lowenthall, March 9, 1868. 

Q. Was the organization known as the Order of Eter- 
nal Progress organized alone by mortals, or did spirits 
out of the form favor and assist? 

^4. An organization corresponding to that which has 
lately been instituted in your mortal w T orld, has been in 
process of action in the spirit-w r orld for a long, long se- 
ries of ages, and through certain mediumistic minds cer- 
tain ideas have been transmitted to you in mortal, and 
you are just beginning to put forth in active life. 

Q. Does the prevalence of Spiritualism tend to lessen 
the proper appreciation of human life? The question is 
asked in all sincerity, in view of some of the terrible ( 
-crimes, involving murder, sometimes perpetrated by per- 
sons professing to be Spiritualists. 

A. Spiritualism, pure and undulterated, teaches us 
that the gift of life, in all its many phases, is the greatest 
and best boon that the Creator has conferred upon his 
children, and that none has the right to seek to change the 
conditions of time for those of what you call eternity. It 
is the duty of all to seek to prolong their lives here, till 
the spirit can no longer express itself through the mortal 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 147 

form. Then, in a natural, harmonious manner the spirit 
will pass out and enjoy the glories of that higher life. 
Spiritualism teaches that the suicide and the murderer 
find more unhappiness there than they can by any possi- 
bility find here. Spiritualism proposes to enlighten the 
soul concerning its highest interests, whether of time or 
of eternity. Spiritualism does not teach that you shall 
infringe, or seek to, upon any law of your mortal or spir- 
itual being. It teaches how you may become in harmony 
with the law, and by becoming in harmony, you learn the 
way to heaven. It is only when you are in harmony with 
the laws that are governing you that you are in heaven, 
or can by any possibility know what true happiness is. 
And if you seek to infringe upon the law, it will rebuke 
you always with the sternest severity. It matters not 
whether you are here or there. The law does not leave 
you at death. It follows you beyond the tomb. 

Q. It seems to be the opinion of a large number of 
Spiritualists that woman is entitled to exercise authority 
equally with man, in all the duties of life. What would 
be the result, in a case of man and wife, where there was 
a difference of opinion in matters of business ? 

A. That woman is mentally, morally, socially, and 
spiritually the equal of man, we do certainly know. Phys- 
ically, she is his inferior, and by being physically infe- 
rior to man, she is raised just so much higher in the spir- 
itual scale, has become just so much more spiritual, just 
so much more intuitive, just so much in advance of man, 
with regard to the things of the real life. Now, with 
reference to the question that you have propounded, your 
speaker can perhaps give very little valuable advice, and 
yet what I am able to give will be given in all sincerity, 
with a purpose entirely honest, and I should hope entirely 



148 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

separated from all favoritism with regard to the man or 
woman. In matters of business, that which relates to 
things of this world, that which takes in the merchan- 
dise of human life, deals with those forms that are cur- 
rent here, the man knows generally more about than the 
woman. Why? Because he has lived more in that at- 
mosphere than she. He has dwelt more steadily there 
than she has. He has become more accustomed to and 
assimilated with these conditions than the woman has ; 
therefore, considering the case in that light, he should 
stand pre-eminent to the woman in regard to this particu- 
lar kind of wisdom. But when considered from another 
stand-point, the woman rises above him ; and it is from 
this stand-point that we behold her spiritually his supe- 
rior, even in this respect. Her intuitions being more 
unfolded, it is sometimes very possible that the intimate 
friends of the man, in the spirit- world, may be able to 
shed their influence upon the woman with regard to what 
is best to be done even in the things of this life. The 
woman may be able to receive the very best portion of 
spiritual knowledge with regard to the things here, while 
the man's senses may be entirely closed to them. And 
as man stands side by side with woman, and as God rec- 
ognizes them both as standing upon one plane of life, it 
behooves both to seek to understand each other, and in 
seeking to understand, you seek to improve each other, 
too. Woman should lend of her wisdom to the man, and 
the man should lend of his physical strength to the woman. 
There should be an harmonious action between the two, 
else there is no heaven for them. Nothing but hell can 
dwell with the man and the woman who are inharmonious 
to each other, in any sense whatever. The time is com- 
ing when the man and the woman will learn how near 



FROM THE SriRIT-LAND. 149 

they stand to God, and how God is speaking to them 
through all the different forms of life. And when they 
understand this, they will hearken unto the voice, and har- 
mony will come where inharmony now" reigns supreme. 

By Lorenzo Dow, March 10, 1868. 

Q. Have spirits, besides thought or mental commu- 
nion among themselves, also the audible voice sound 
which some seem to affirm? 

JL. The law of correspondences is an absolute and 
perfect law everywhere, not only here, but in the spirit- 
world proper. Yes ; we do have that which is equiva- 
lent to sound. It is such to the disembodied spirit. It 
would not be such to you, because the applications could 
not be made successfully to your human senses. The 
auditory nerves would not vibrate under the sound that 
belongs to the spirit-world proper, but the auditory nerves 
of the spirit-body will vibrate under the sounds of the 
spirit-world. Every condition of life is regulated by its 
own special laws. There are laws pertaining to Nature, 
laws pertaining to mind, and laws pertaining to every de- 
gree of mind and matter, and governing each in their own 
proper sphere. 

Q. It has been said that all things in Nature must 
take upon themselves a second life, that is, the spiritual. 
Does not the earth — this planet, which we inhabit — 
come under the same law? Will it not enter a more 
spiritual or ethereal life? 

A. It certainly will. This planet is dying constantly. 
By and by the death cha-nge will become so complete that 
it will pass out of its material orbit and enter a spiritual 
orbit, or become the dwelling-place of ethereal beings, 
and not the dwelling-place for material beings. All 



150 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

things, all forms, every condition of being of which you 
can conceive, has its inner and its outer life. The inner 
is the propelling power, the outer is the expression of 
that power. The outer changes constantly. Through 
an infinite number of degrees it passes till it becomes so 
etherealized or spiritualized as to be no longer recognized 
by material senses. Mark us : everything has its inner 
and its outer life. 

Q. Is it not probable, then, that these spiritual forms 
that have passed from the earth-sphere will finally return 
to inhabit the same places again as they once inhabited in 
the body? 

A. It is certainly not impossible. 

Q. I would ask, as bearing upon the first question, 
what is the philosophy of spirit-influx? Ideas are com- 
municated by sounds or words, in which case the ear is 
the medium — also through forms, as by letters, &c, 
where the eye is the medium. Now, what is the philoso- 
phy of spirit-influx where the senses are not appealed to ? 

A.. Sometimes the perceptive faculties are made use 
of as agents to convey thought from one mind to another. 
Under some circumstances a thought is no sooner rounded 
into form in one mind, than another catches it up, and 
another and another, and so on till it is lost in the distance. 

Q. You say thought is rounded into form. I can 
conceive of a bubble being rounded into form and then 
vanishing into air. Is it the same with a thought? 

A. It certainly is. You cannot conceive of the reali- 
ty of thought simply because you cannot measure, it by 
your human senses, you cannot weigh it, you cannot ma- 
terially deal with it. Now, thought is to humanity the 
intangible, the unreal ; it is the fleeting. But to the dis- 
embodied spirit it is the real, the tangible ; it is the life. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 151 

Yes, thoughts are rounded into form just the same as 
bubbles are, as worlds are, as dew-drops are. Every- 
thing begins with a cycle and ends with a cycle. 

Q. Has not man a direct destiny placed before him, 
a road in which he is compelled to walk, a destiny marked 
out for him by an infinitely wise and good power, which 
governs all things? 

A. Yes, I believe so. I believe that we are just as 
much the creatures of destiny as this world is. It per- 
forms its revolutions in perfect harmony with the law of 
its destiny. We do the same. We may think that we 
can do this or that, as we please. We may suppose, in 
our ignorance of the great law by which we are controlled, 
that we have an all-sufficient and omnipotent will of our 
own ; but, after all, it is very insignificant, and of small 
account, when measured by the great governing power 
of the universe. 

Q. How far, then, is man a free agent, responsible 
for his actions on the earth ? 

A. That is a question very hard to answer. Because 
man is subject to the law of a certain destiny. I be- 
lieve that law does not infringe upon his freedom — 
upon all the rights which belong to him as an individu- 
alized being. I believe that the judge of every intelli- 
gent being is within themselves, and I believe they 
are accountable only to that judge ; and in this way : for 
instance, suppose the mercantile man makes a mistake 
in his mercantile operations to-day ; he looks over the 
ground, and sees where he might have done better; he 
regrets w T hat he has done, and in the future he avoids 
taking the same steps under similar circumstances. Now, 
he has judged himself; he has paid the penalty through 
regret, and he has come out into a newer light in conse- 



152 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

quence of the mistake. He knows more than he did be- 
fore ; he would hardly do the same thing over again. So 
it is with regard to all things in life. If a child burns its 
hand by putting it into the flame, you will hardly get it to 
do the same thin a; again. It will fear the flame. The 
old adage, "A burnt child fears the fire," is a very true 
one. It holds good in the intellectual realm, and in 
every other. 

Q. With reference to my former question, I would 
ask if there are not conditions in the life of man over 
which he has no control, which prevent him from doing 
otherwise than as he does ? 

A. Most certainly. There are conditions surround- 
ing humanity over which humanity has not the slightest 
control. The fire possesses destructive properties, and 
so long as it is the fire it will possess those properties. If 
you place yourself in a position to be burnt by it, it will 
burn you. You cannot control it. And throughout all 
the circumstances of life, conditions are constantly com- 
ing up over which we have no control. For instance, 
you had no control over the way and manner of your 
birth — no control over the organic life which you pos- 
sess. You found that you possessed it when you came 
to a certain standard of intelligence. You had no voice 
in the matter whatever. The law, or nature, operated 
without even asking if it might operate in your case, and 
that same law goes with you all through life. Just so 
far as you understand the law thoroughly you can make 
it your servant, and no further. But you never can 
thoroughly understand the law ; therefore there will al- 
ways be conditions over which you have no control. 

Q. Does not man's assertion of his free agency spring 
from his ignorance of the forces which control him ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 153 

A. I think so. 

Q. Have not good and evil always co-existed ? Could 
we understand one without the other? 

A. No, certainly not. Why, if I thought that the 
devil was o'oino' to take his leave from the world of mind 
and the world of matter, I should be miserable indeed, 
and for this reason : I should know that God, or the great, 
good power, would be robbed of half its glory. What 
would you know about good, fine, pleasant weather, if 
there were no storms ? You would weary of it very soon. 
What would you know about appreciating the sunshine, 
if there were no clouds that passed over the sun's face? 
Why, I think the devil is one of our very best friends, 
and instead of putting horns .and hoofs to him, we ought 
to array him in garments of light, and call him what God 
calls him — very good. 

Q. Are we not placed here in order to gain knowl- 
edge from adverse circumstances, that we may be better 
fitted for the life which is to come ? 

A. Why, certainly. Do you suppose you would ap- 
preciate the joys of what you call heaven, the heaven of 
the spirit-world, if you had always passed through a sort 
of an easy, free life here? Why, no7 You would say, 
"I had about as good as this on the earth." You would 
hardly know which you liked best. They who have been 
crushed under the wheels of adversity are the souls who 
know how to enjoy heaven. Why, I am only sorry I did 
not have more adversity when here. I am only sorry I 
did not drink deeper of the cup of bitterness, because if 
I had I should have a keener relish for the joys of heaven. 
My relish is very keen now, but it would have been en- 
hanced a hundred fold if I had only suffered more when 
here. That is why the returning spirits always tell you 



154 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

that though they suffered much here, they cannot afford 
to part with the remembrance of it — they are very glad 
to have passed through it. 

Q. This being the case, then, in order to secure the 
future happiness of our friends, ought we not to begin to 
torment them all in our power while here? 

A. By no means. And you could not if you would, 
for the law of your destiny has you in its grasp, and you 
cannot escape it. You can torment them just so far, but 
no farther. If you have a mind to, you may try it, and 
see how far you can go. You would very soon weary 
of it, for you would find the torment reacting so fully 
upon yourself, that you would get sick of it. 

By William E. Channing, March 12, 1868. 

Q. What is experimental religion ? or, in other words, 
what is the influence spoken of as being the workings of 
the Holy Ghost? for there is evidently some unseen, mov- 
ing power. 

A. Every kind of religion is in itself experimental. 
There never was a religion that was not an experimental 
religion, that I have had any knowledge of whatever. 
This Holy Spirit spoken of by your correspondent is the 
power which determines concerning the particular cast 
and color of the religion which we shall possess, and it 
gives a very great variety, no two possessing the same 
kind of religion. A thousand persons may worship at 
the same religious shrine, and yet in essential individual 
worship all differ from each other. This Holy Spirit and 
this Divine Po^er which determines between good and 
evil is the power that will unlock the gates of heaven 
to every soul individually, not collectively. Strait and 
narrow is the way. One soul cannot come into heaven 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 155 

by any possibility by any other way except its own — the 
way that God has marked out for it. You cannot go to 
heaven by my way. I cannot by yours. It is no use try- 
ing. You may try to "climb up by my way, but you can- 
not do it ; you will find that you have mistaken your 
power. All must knock at the gates of heaven through 
the law of their own holy ghost. They can by no possi- 
bility enter heaven in any other way ; and as all souls 
enter heaven, or suppose they do, by some religious light, 
so all must enter by their own particular religious light. 
The man or woman who is not ready for a spiritual reli- 
gion, and is ready for the religion of Catholicism, will go 
to heaven in that way, and you cannot help it. 

By Theodore Parker, March 16, 1868. 

Q. Do all spirits take cognizance of their surround- 
ings immediately on being dismissed from the body ? 

A. No. 

Q. Why not? 

A. It is impossible to tell why not. We cannot al- 
ways account readily for this phenomenon of Nature that 
is presented to us ; though we may master it in time, yet 
we may not be able to do so at once. "Many spirits who 
pass from this sphere to a more spiritual state of being, 
who lay off the mortal and are clothed upon with immor- 
tality, pass through the chemical change called death, 
perhaps under the influence of ardent spirits, perhaps 
under the influence of narcotics. Such are not readily 
awakened to consciousness of spirit. For instance, a 
man dies dead-drunk, and while in that state he passes 
out of the body. What is it that is dead-drunk? Is it 
the body? No, it is consciousness. It goes out into the 
spirit-world dead-drunk, and it remains so till by natural 



156 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

law the condition passes off, and he is roused to a state 
of consciousness, takes cognizance of his surroundings, 
measures himself and that by which he finds himself sur- 
rounded by his own inner consciousness. All souls are 
in their external specially aggregated ; yet there are no 
two alike. One perceives very readily all the conditions 
that surround him and in which he seems to live, while 
another is very slow to perceive them. One spirit hears 
that the way is open to return to earth, and straightway 
he comes back. Another hears of it, but his ears are not 
attuned to the truth of the sound ; he does not believe it. 
It cannot appeal to him as a truth, and he does not come 
back for years — ages, perhaps. All are differently made 
up in the external, yet in the internal the Bushman, the 
Hottentot, the Anglo-Saxon, are all the same. Now, 
do not fancy that you are any better than the savage of 
the Western wilds, for you are not. In essence they are 
one with you. 

Q. Does that state of unconsciousness generally last 
long after death ? 

A. It is generally governed by the internal power, 
the internal capacity of the individual to throw off inhar- 
monious external conditions. Some can do it more readi- 
ly than others. It is governed by their internal state. 
With some it lasts only a few hours, with some, years. 

Q. In your answer to the previous question, do I un- 
derstand you aright that the consciousness, the soul and 
the spirit, are one and the same thing? 

A. No ; did I say so? O, no. 

Q. Do not some kinds of disease produce the same 
effects to deaden consciousness? 

A. Certainly. Whatever will render individual con- 
sciousness inactive here, renders it so there. It carries 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 157 

the impression there, and time must be given it to outlive 
that condition there, as well as here. There are no mir- 
acles performed anywhere, not even with the great God 
himself. Everything is done by law. You may talk of 
breaking laws here and breaking laws there, but God's 
laws are unbreakable. 

Q. How much does learning benefit the spirit after 
death? 

A. True learning benefits it a great deal. It draws 
out the inner powers of the spirit and makes them strong, 
brings them in contact with external things, gives them 
that active strength that corresponds to the strength of the 
body, which you receive by action. How strong would 
you be if you were to take no active part in the external 
physical world? For instance, suppose you sit down, or 
go to bed and lie there two months ; would you get up 
strong? No, you would be very weak. Why? Because 
your limbs had been deprived of their natural activity. 
So with regard to your mental powers : the more you 
use them without abuse, the better it will be for you 
here and hereafter. 

By Sir Humphrey Davy, March 17, 1868. 

Q. What is the meaning of the great seeming differ- 
ence in the condition, growth, and progress of man? 
Some learn much faster than others and with very little 
labor, and that a pleasure ; others have to toil hard with 
suffering and distaste, but persevere from necessity or a 
sense of duty. These, contrasting their condition with 
that of the more favored, must naturally feel neglected 
by Nature, or the creative power. They cannot emulate 
the ability they witness. Success seems to be the result 
of certain endowments. One, mentally, is an antelope 



158 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

in speed, another a tortoise. One acquires wealth rapidly 
and easily, another fails, though he uses every effort. So 
in all departments of life there seems a distributing and 
directing power. Two rivers, starting from the same 
point, may, by the apparent accident of a pebble in the 
path of one, take widely different directions ; one cours- 
ing through a land flowing with milk and honey, the 
other through a desert. Is the advantage or disadvan- 
tage we have seen, real or apparent? Does the credit or 
discredit belong to the stream, that its bed should be by 
green pastures or through burning sands? Will there be 
an equalization at some time? — the soul, crippled and 
withered by adverse conditions, be released and made to 
progress proportionately faster for its delay, and overtake 
or outstrip the comrade whose beginning was brighter ' 
than its own, to be in turn, perhaps, surpassed again, 
but to demonstrate to life at large, by these different 
phases of destiny, that there is not in the progress of 
spirit the inequality that appears ; that soul is but as a 
wide-tossed ocean, every part of which is in turn elevated 
or depressed, but the average level is maintained the same 
— each drop knowing the giddy elevation and the corre- 
sponding abyss, and destined to find between the two the 
golden mean that constitutes the real victory, peace and 
joy of life ? 

A. In consulting the heavenly bodies, we find that 
they vary in magnitude, therefore in power, in condition. 
Every star seems to differ from every other star. In 
fact, there are no two forms, either in mind or matter, 
that are created precisely alike. A vast variety exists, 
and it is very fortunate for the soul that it does, for if 
the contrary were true, a vast monotony would be the 
result. Indeed, with all the beauty that meets all the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 159 

senses at every turn, in mind or matter, we should find 
nothing to delight us, and also nothing to depress us, but 
mediocrity everywhere. Nothing to aspire to, nothing 
to dread. As we look abroad everywhere w T e behold this 
variety, and it is exhibited with no less power in the 
human organization than elsewhere. We find one man 
laboring hard to attain his desires here. He goes yonder, 
and still he labors hard through centuries, through cycles 
of years ; still he labors hard. By and by a change 
comes. On the other hand, we behold a man whom we 
see accomplishes his purposes, and seems to be riding to 
heaven in the chariot of ease. All goes well with him. 
One enjoys almost uninterrupted physical health, while 
another suffers almost uninterrupted physical disease. 
So on through the great calendar of Nature. We find 
that all this variety may be blended into one grand scale 
of harmony in the life of our God. It is well that these 
differences exist. The soul has absolute need of their 
existence. Some souls would hardly unfold themselves 
under pleasant, harmonious conditions. They need the 
hard friction of affliction. They need to be brought in 
contact with the rude scenes and storms of life, so that 
the soul may grow thereby ; so that it ""may unfold itself 
in a different manner from all other souls. A wise power 
hath fashioned us ; that same power governs and guides 
us, and that same power will bring order out of chaos, 
harmony out of inharmony, perfection out of imperfection, 
and the great law of compensation will exempt none. 

Q. Why are some persons subject to singular acts 
while sound asleep ? as in the case of a young woman 
rising at three o'clock, making a fire, filling a tea-kettle, 
and setting the table ready for breakfast, then returning 
to bed, leaving the doors behind open, even to the open 



160 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

air, and surprised at the breakfast table with the relation 
of her unconscious services for an early meal? 

JL. There are some persons who are furnished organi- 
cally with a double motive power, each perfect in itself. 
These persons are capable of being used by those intelli- 
gences or minds who have laid off their own external 
organizations, or physical bodies. While the indwelling 
spirit has possession of the inner motive power, the inner 
nervous structure, the outside and foreign spirit may have 
control of the external motive nervous power, and there 
may be no consciousness transmitted to the indwelling 
spirit, because these two nervous systems, or powers, are 
each distinct in themselves. Though in one body, they 
are distinctively separate. The one conveys no intelli- 
gence to the other. The foreign spirit controls the exter- 
nal, while the indwelling spirit controls the internal. 
Here, then, is a double control of one body, each perfect 
in itself. Those persons who are possessed with this 
double nervous system you call mediums, somnambulists. 
You give them various names, but they are simply ex- 
traordinarily sensitive persons. Their sensitiveness con- 
sists in their having this double nervous system — nothing 
more, nothing less. 

By Theodore Parker, March 19, 1868. 

Q. What is God essentially ? 

A. Everything. Essentially you are God, I am God 
— the flowers, *the grass, the pebbles, the stars, the 
moon, the sun, everything is God. Now, that may seem 
to be a very material idea of God, but in reality it is not. 
If you can show me where God is not, then you can force 
me to believe that God in essence and God in form is not 
everywhere present to our understandings. God to me 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 161 

speaks through the water and the dry land ; through the 
skies, through the flowers, through the mountains and the 
valleys. I cannot understand God as existing outside of 
Nature. 

By Abner Kneeland, Thomas Paine, Robert Hare, and 
Theodore Parker, March 23, 1868. 

Q. Please explain the following paragraph : — 
" Vegetation in the Moon. — It was for a long 
time the common conclusion among astronomers that the 
moon was without any atmosphere, and destitute of water ; 
and that, consequently, neither animal nor vegetable life 
could be supported on its surface. But several eminent 
modern astronomers have maintained the moon has an 
atmosphere, though of a very limited extent. And quite 
recently, Mr. Schawbe, a German astronomical professor, 
thinks he has discovered signs of vegetation on the sur- 
face of our satellite. It is well known that there are cer- 
tain dark lines, or scratches, as they appear, extending 
across the slopes of the highest mountains in the moon. 
These have been variously explained, some regarding 
them as the beds of dried-up streams ; others as the chan- 
nels left by torrents of lava ; others as having some other 
origin. Professor Schawbe claimed to have discovered in 
these lines a greenish color, which appears at certain sea- 
sons, lasts a few months, and then disappears. He there- 
fore regards these lines as belts of vegetation. If his ob- 
servations should be decisively confirmed by those of 
other astronomers, it will settle the question that the 
moon has both air and water, and will therefore remove 
any presumption against the existence of animal life on 
its surface." — English paper. 

A.. Professor Schawbe is correct in his astronomical 
conclusions with regard to the moon. It has an atmos- 
phere. There are land and water upon its surface, and vege- 
tation exists, although, it is believed, in a very primal form. 
Astronomers are very fast becoming acquainted with 
11 



162 • FLASHES OF LIGHT 

many points of their science, which they have hitherto 
overlooked ; for the world grows, and so do astronomers. 
The great influx of light which is being shed from the 
spirit-world in this age, at this time, cannot fail to reach, 
more or less, all classes of mind, and it reaches with par- 
ticular force that class of mind which is in itself scientific 
— those minds that desire to solve the great problems of 
life. It is to them that this spiritual influx descends with 
great power, and although they do not recognize it or un- 
derstand its bearing, it is with them, impressing them 
with the great truth that is in the atmosphere, that is in 
the earth, that belongs to the stars, and to them also. 
The geologist is quickened by the spirit to know concern- 
ing what is entombed in the earth ; the astronomer is 
quickened to know what is to be revealed from the starry 
heavens ; and so on through all departments of science. 
Each one does not fail to receive a due portion of this 
light which you Spiritualists call your own. 

"A. E. G." presents the following: — 

Q. Has any human soul had a conscious existence 
prior to its incarnation in the flesh ? 

A. I myself have no recollection of an existence 
prior to the one which I passed through during the earthly 
life ; but I have conversed with very many spirits who 
tell me that they have a distinct remembrance of having 
lived and acted through human life prior to their existence 
on the earth. These minds are, at present, the excep- 
tions ; but how long they will remain so we cannot tell. 
Ju3ging from the great progress that has been made in 
this direction during the last fifty years, I should myself 
determine that in the course of the next two hundred 
years, these minds, with their seemingly mystic theories, 
will be the rule. Other minds will add their testimony, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 163 

till the majority is with them, not with us. Perhaps you 
and I, long ere that time, will have been awakened to a 
consciousness of a prior existence to the one we enjoyed 
on earth. 

A. E. G. — I will present a statement of facts bearing 
on the same subject. 

"Rev. David Brainerd, who labored among the Indians 
of New Jersey in 1745, in a diary of his experience 
which he published at that time, mentions some of the 
wonders or marvellous deeds wrought by, or through, 
certain of the Indian diviners, conjurers, or powwow, as 
they were called. He says they are supposed to have a 
pow r er of foretelling future events, recovering the sick by 
making passes upon them, charming persons to death, 
and that their spirit, in its various operations, seems to be 
a fanatical imitation of the spirit of prophecy that the 
church in early ages was favored with. He became par- 
ticularly acquainted with one of these diviners, whom he 
represents to have been sincere, honest, and conscientious, 
and some of whose sentiments, Mr. Brainerd said, seemed 
to him to be very just. 

"This Indian, in describing to Brainerd the way in 
which he obtained this power that he had of foretelling 
future events, knowing the secret thoughts of men, re- 
storing the sick to health, &c, said, that before he was 
born he was admitted into the presence of a great man, 
in a world above, and at a vast distance from this world, 
who informed the Indian that he loved, pitied, and 
desired to do him good. This great man was clothed 
with the brightest day he ever saw, yea, a day of many 
years, of everlasting continuance. This whole world was 
drawn upon him, so that in him the earth and all things 
in it might be seen. By the side of this great man stood 



164 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

his shade, shadow, or spirit, which filled all places, and 

was most agreeable and wonderful to him 

This great man told him he must come down to earth, be 
born of such a woman, meet with such and such things, 
and that once in his life he should be guilty of murder. 
At this the Indian was displeased, and told the great man 
that he never would murder ; but he replied, * I have said 
it, and it shall be so. 9 All of this afterwards happened 
to the Indian (i. e., he afterwards came upon earth, was 
born of that particular woman, met with such and such 
incidents, as had been predicted, and had also, on one 
occasion, committed murder, wholly unconscious at the 
time that he was fulfilling a prediction made in reference 
to him prior to his birth). 

"The great man asked him what he would choose in 
life. He replied, to be a hunter, and afterwards to be a 
powwow, or diviner ; whereupon the great man told him 
he should have what he desired, and that his shade, or 
shadow, should go along with him down to earth, and be 
with him forever. There were no words at this time 
spoken between them. The conference was not carried 
on by any human language, but they had a kind of men- 
tal intelligence of each other's thoughts. After this, the 
Indian says, he saw the great man no more, but supposes 
he came down to earth to be born. The spirit, or shade, of 
the great man still attended him, and ever after continued 
to appear to him in dreams, and in other ways. 
There were times when this spirit came upon him in a 
special manner, and then, he says, he was all light, and 
not only himself, but it was light all around him, so that 
he could see through men and know the thoughts of their 
hearts." 

Who or what was this great man that the Indian con- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 165 

versed with in his pre-existent state, and who marked out 
a definite, precise, and, in some respects, unpleasant work 
for the Indian to perform on earth? Does he resemble 
the Grand Man of Swedenborg? 

A. I should say that this great man was none other 
than some guardian spirit, whose mission was to watch 
over this Indian, and perhaps to watch over many others. 

Q. Jesus, a day or two before his death, said, "Father, 
I have finished the w r ork which thou gavest me to do, and 
now glorify thou me, Father, with thyself, with the glory 
which I had with thee before the world was, and now I 
come to thee." I would inquire whether these and other 
words of Jesus connected therewith do not imply that he 
had the idea of his pre-existence ? 

A. Jesus tells us that he clearly and distinctly remem- 
bered a long existence prior to the one that was crossed 
by so much sorrow. He tells us that he knew it when 
here, but that he was not permitted to speak in the full- 
ness of wisdom, because of the ignorance of his followers. 
He was permitted to give them just such mental food as 
their condition demanded, and none other. He says he 
knew that he had existed through all the past as a distinct 
individuality, moving through different spheres, and act- 
ing under different conditions, but never once losing his 
own particular individuality. He tells us this in our 
spirit-spheres, and it is upon his testimony that thousands 
of spirits are seeking to know if they too are not, in this 
sense, immortal. Immortality, to the spirit, does not 
simply mean the future, but it implies that the soul has 
come through all the past ; that its immortality rests upon 
the past as well as upon the future. It embraces all of 
eternity. If the soul was not a conscious spirit in the 
past, then it was not a soul. It did not possess that 



166 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

birthright to immortality which we suppose it to possess. 
Although I myself have no consciousness of a prior ex- 
istence, yet I have the utmost faith in the testimony of 
those who have. 

Q. Brainerd further represents the Indian as saying, 
"that the spirit, or shadow, of the great man continued 
to appear to him in dreams and other ways until he felt 
the power of God's word upon his heart ; since which 
time it has entirely left him." I would inquire what, in 
the opinion of the controlling intelligence, was the cause 
of the cessation of the Indian's mediumship, as I suppose 
his peculiar power would be called in modern phrase. 

Ji. It is impossible to tell what the cause was. You 
and I may both suppose what it may be, but we cannot 
know. Modern media are watched over and guarded by a 
certain class of spirits for a certain time. Suddenly they 
leave them. They never hear of them again. They 
cannot tell why it is that these things are so. 

Q. You say that all spirits, that everything, is eternal, 
yet I find that Spiritualists, as well as all religionists, 
pray to a great First Cause. If everything is eternal, 
what need of this ? 

A., We use certain terms here upon earth to convey cer- 
tain ideas. They are, perhaps, the best that we could use, 
under the circumstances, and yet they fail to convey half 
that we wish to convey to you. I In our prayers to the 
great God, the Father and Mother of us all, we do but 
pray to that intelligence which is superior to our own ; to 
that good which is beyond us in goodness ; to that some- 
thing which we feel that we must rely upon in our own 
individual weakness. It is like the atom praying to the 
mountain. It is like one drop of the great ocean praying 
to all the other drops. Prayer lifts us in the moral scale 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 167 

of being. It never fails to ; for we never give birth to 
an honest prayer without leaving some of our darkness 
below us, without rising somewhat spiritually. From the 
very fact that we have desired to pray, we know that we 
are.ascending, that the darkness is passing away. When 
we pray, we draw to ourselves a higher class of intelli- 
gences ; and because they are higher they are disposed to 
aid us, for the better always lends of its aid to that which 
is below it. It is the order of life. We pray simply be- 
cause we feel that there is a necessity for our praying. 
We cannot tell from whence the necessity comes. We 
cannot tell where the prayer will find its stopping-place ; 
but we pray, and the answer comes by our own moral 
elevation. 

• 
By John Pierpont, March 30, 1868. 

Q. You say that spiritual forms are matter? 

A. Certainly they are. 

Q. Then how is it that they can pass through other 
matter, as, for instance, when a spirit enters a closed 
room? Why does not the matter, more dense, oppose 
them? 

A. It certainly does oppose them. 

Q* But does not hinder their entrance? 

A. No, because the spirit is always not only superior 
in point of beauty and excellence, but superior in point 
of power. I have a certain control over this crude mat- 
ter because I am superior to it. As a disembodied spirit, 
I can pass through the walls of this room, because I am 
superior to them. They are but servants, so to speak, to 
me. They offer a certain amount of resistance. So do 
the waves of the ocean ; so does fire ; but they are not 
impervious to spirit. 



168 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q*. In passing through the waves of the ocean, or 
through fire, there is a displacement of the particles of 
matter. When spiritual matter passes through a denser 
medium, is there also a displacement of the particles? 

A. No ; there is no need of it. 

Q. We call a spiritual form etherealized matter. Sup- 
pose you enclose an object in a glass case ; could spirit 
pass through that? 

A. There is nothing in all the universe that is imper- 
vious to spirit. 

Q. Yet you say that spirit is matter. 

A. It is matter, but so etherealized that your senses 
cannot grasp it. You have many conditions of matter 
impervious to the gases by which you are surrounded, but 
you have nothing which is impervious to spirit. 

By Bishop Penwick, April 6, 1868. 

Q. Is life, or human life, the result of chemical action ? 

A. Yes ; the whole universe seems to be a vast 
chemical laboratory, turning out its multitudinous forms, 
never ceasing to labor. And these physical bodies come 
within the realm of Nature. They are the results of a 
chemical power that is at work in the universe. Certain 
chemical combinations keep them in their proper spheres. 
They are chemical machines upon which the spirit plays, 
that it may express itself during its sojourn in the earth- 
life. 

Q. Can all spirits communicate here? 

A. If you mean to ask if spirits of all grades of in- 
telligence can communicate here, I shall answer in the 
affirmative. It would be absolutely impossible for all 
spirits to find access here, to be able to communicate here, 
inasmuch as the channel is very limited, while the demand 
is very extensive. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 169 

Q. Does spirit ever lose its individuality ? 

A. No ; I do not believe that it ever does. 

Q. Is there not a time, at death, when it does? 

A. No ; certainly not. Death has no more power 
upon the spirit than it has power upon the sun. It has 
no effect upon it whatever. Death is a chemical change 
that takes place in the physical body, but it does not 
affect the spirit, only that it separates it from the physical 
body. The spirit goes forth precisely the same that it 
was while in the body. It has lost nothing ; it has 
gained nothing. 

Q. Are we to suppose that media who claim to be 
under the direct influence of Jesus Christ and other an- 
cient spirits are correct? Can those ancients come and 
influence the media of the present day ? 

A. Yes ; you are at liberty to suppose whatsoever 
you will. It is by no means an impossible thing for 
those ancient spirits to return, manifesting through mod- 
ern media. 

By Joseph Lowenthall, April 9, 1868. 

Q. It has been stated here that there are vast regions 
of the earth's surface yet undiscovered — almost limitless 
regions. If so, our geographers are greatly at fault. 
They represent the earth's surface as pretty well explored, 
save a small space in the arctic and antarctic regions 
which is yet unknown. Will the intelligence localize the 
boundaries and extent of those regions ? 

A. You have no right to determine that your scien- 
tific minds who have explored certain parts of the earth 
are not right, so far as they have gone. So far as 
they have been able to reach, so far they are right. 
But in their ignorance they determine, because there 



170 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is a boundary to their progress, materially, there is 
nothing beyond that boundary. Now, those who have 
made this matter a subject of deep observation in- the 
spirit-world — not here on earth — inform us that be- 
yond what is termed by you the arctic and antarctic 
regions there are almost unlimited stretches of land and 
water, varying in climate according to the conditions by 
which they are surrounded, according to the planetary 
influences that act upon them. This world, they tell us, 
this floating sphere, is by no means so small as you sup- 
pose it to be. It is small when compared with the vast 
universe outside of itself; but it is not so small as sci- 
entists of earth have determined. They tell us that, as 
mind changes its base of operations, so the earth changes 
correspondingly; or as the earth changes, so mind 
changes, and there will come a time when the scientists 
of earth shall be able to investigate still further, still 
more deeply, still more perfectly than at present, and it 
will be because of the change of climatic influences. 
That portion of the earth that is now so cold and rarefied 
that you cannot approach it — you cannot go beyond a 
certain climate and boundary line — will be changed to 
meet the needs of growing intelligence. Everything, 
we find, is finally subservient to the human will, and that 
all-powerful probe, human intelligence, that is never sat- 
isfied with the present. It is impossible to give the exact 
latitude and longitude of those localities. The time will 
come, but not in your day, when that which is now but a 
spiritual theory will be a fixed and demonstrated fact, 
just as much so as the fact that the world moves, or that 
it is nearly spherical in shape. 

Q. Do heat and cold affect spirits in the spirit-world? 

A. Only when they enter earth's atmosphere. That 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 171 

is to say, that heat and cold which belong especially to 
the earth's atmosphere. That affects them when they 
return here, because they then come under the laws that 
belong to the earth, by which the earth is governed. For 
instance, if I am in this room, as a disembodied intelli- 
gence even, I feel the peculiar quality of the atmosphere. 
I am affected by the heat and the cold. 

By William E. Channing, April 13, 1868. 

Q. Do all grades of animal spirits exist visibly in the 
spirit-land ? 

JL. Yes, but that spirit-land is right here on the earth, 
and those animal spirits are inhabiting animal bodies here 
on the earth. It is the tendency of matter to unfold, to 
perfect itself, to grow into higher and more perfect forms, 
and therefore the animal forms that have an existence on 
the earth to-day will by and by become extinct, to give 
room to higher forms. /Life expresses itself always 
through form, and the form depends upon the condition 
of the life for its expression. For instance, all the lower 
orders of animal life reveal to us a certain amount of 
animal life, and nothing beyond it ; there is no reason, 
no higher grade of intelligence manifested anywhere ex- 
cept through humanity ; and by and by even these human 
forms will give place to others more perfect, better 
adapted to the life that is to come. They serve well the 
life that is, but they w T ill not answer the purpose of that 
which is to be. So do not expect that throughout all the 
future you will retain the semblance of these forms, for 
you certainly will not. 

Q. Perhaps I shall be better understood, if I put the 
question in this form. Take the case of a horse. It 
dies. Does that spirit appear in animal form in the fu- 
ture state, or does it vanish? 



172 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. No. I believe that the spirit of animal life be- 
longs, so far as its outward expression is concerned, to 
the earth and all other planets that have given birth to 
animal life. They have a spirit, to be sure, but that 
spirit, so far as animal expression is concerned, is non- 
immortal. You may rest assured of that. 

By William E. Channing, April 14, 1868. 

Q. Do spirits use vocal language in the spirit -world, 
as they did on earth? If not, by what means do they 
converse with each other? 

A. Yes, they do use vocal language, but it would not 
be vocal to human senses — to those senses that belong 
to the physical body. It is only vocal to the senses that 
belong to the spirit-body. There is sound — all the dif- 
ferent varieties of sound — in the spirit-world proper, as 
here. 

Q. In what does God exist ? 

A. In everything. Tell us in what he does not exist. 

Q. In all form ? 

A. In all forms. He exists in you, in me, in all 
these different forms — in everything. 

Q. Is he, then, a personal being? 

A. Yes, so far as form is concerned. He is person- 
ified in all forms, having no special form, but taking all. 
That is my belief. 

Q. Do you recognize him as distinct and separate 
from human beings? 

A. No, certainly not. I recognize him as one with 
them. 

Q. As we become more spiritual, are not our percep- 
tions more clear in relation to him ? 

A. Certainly* 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 173 

By Father Henry Pitz James, April 16, 1868. 

Q. Is it not probable that before many years elec- 
tricity will be the motor of machinery, instead of steam? 

A. It is, so scientific minds inform us, very probable. 
Franklin is largely engaged in impressing, or seeking to 
impress, the knowledge that he has gained during his resi- 
dence in the spirit-world upon those minds that are able 
to receive it. He makes advance as mind advances on 
the earth. No faster. 

Q. A scientific explanation of idiocy is requested. 

A. There are various theories concerning idiocy. A 
certain class of scientific minds, with us, have recently 
determined that the cause of it may generally be found 
in the imponderables of the physical form — an unequal 
distribution of the electric and magnetic forces. In con- 
sequence of this unequal distribution, the spirit is unable 
to manifest itself. They determine that the spirit, the 
essential life, the intelligent part, is, of itself, perfect, 
and in many instances the external physical is, of itself, 
a perfect machine. But the cause lies between the two, 
as I before said ; in the imponderables, those gases that 
keep the machine in motion ; that power by which the 
spirit manifests through the physical body. 

Q. Do not the signs of the times indicate that ere 
long great and revolutionary changes may be expected, 
both in material existence, and, more particularly, in 
human and political life ? 

A. Yes, and more than this, the signs of the times 
not only indicate such an experience, but it is already 
with you. The revolution in mind has already com- 
menced all through the world, and modern Spiritualism 
is the great lever that is producing it. 



174 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By William B. Channing, April 20, 1868. 

Q. Please explain the law that produces physical 
manifestations, and why they are more frequent than in 
former times. 

A. It would be absolutely impossible to give a full, 
clear explanation of the law by which these manifesta- 
tions are performed, without demonstration, and as the 
conditions are wanting here by which we can demonstrate 
the law, we, of course, must fail in the answer. They 
are of more frequent occurrence in these days, perhaps, 
than in past time, because man is more unfolded, and the 
earth is also in a state more fitted to receive such so-called 
occult manifestations. The earth is ready for such, 
mind is ready for such. A few years in the past — a few 
when compared with eternity, certainly — a certain band 
of disembodied spirits returned to earth for the purpose 
of demonstrating the reality of life after death to those 
who remained on the earth. They came, a certain por- 
tion of them, very near this locality ; and what was the 
result? Why, the darkness swallowed up the light, ab- 
solutely crucified it, and therefore, as a matter of justice 
to the instruments through which the light w T as to shine, 
it retired to wait till the darkness should by a natural 
process be dispelled. The same light has come again ; 
the same class of manifestations that were given then are 
given to-day, but under different circumstances. The 
darkness of night has passed away, therefore the instru- 
ments through which these manifestations w r ere made are 
no longer crucified, as they were in those days ; but the 
time is coming when the light will shine still brighter ; 
when these manifestations, both physical and mental, will 
have reached an altitude far beyond the present, and you 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 175 

will look back upon the present, doubtless considering it 
as the infancy of spirit manifestations. 

Q, In case of destroyed manuscripts or of typed works 
of literature, or of records important to us here on earth, 
have you, in the spirit- world, those ideas in record unob- 
literated? If so, are they where you can consult them, 
and impart their purport to us, when of importance to 
the development of science? 

A. An accurate record of all written or unwritten 
thoughts that have found expression upon this planet is 
kept in the spirit-world proper, that belongs to this 
planet. Not a single thought is lost. All the old ideas 
are carefully kept in the spirit-world. Nothing is lost, 
because everything has an internal or immortal life. All 
those valuable records that the past had, but the pres- 
ent has not, so far as human life is concerned, are all 
kept in the spirit-world, and every soul that desires to 
inform itself concerning those records is at liberty so to 
do. They are free to all. The spirit-world is one vast 
public library. 

By Joseph Lowenthall, April 23, 1868. 

Q. " God sent his only-begotten son into the world 
that whosoever belie veth in him shall have eternal life." 
My mind dwells on the e< only-begotten " as the point at 
issue with the belief of Spiritualists. 

A. Your speaker has no belief in an only-begotten 
son of Jehovah. He never did have any — therefore in 
all probability will fail to do justice to the subject accord- 
ing to the comprehension of the Christian world. Your 
speaker believes that every son and daughter of humanity, 
whether they had an existence in the past, or existing in 
the present, are the begotten sons and daughters of 



176 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Jehovah, every one of them, not one any more than 
another. The breath of the Infinite is with all, and all 
are created in the image of God, which meaneth in the 
image of all things that have been, of all that are, and 
all that can be. This only-begotten son of God, whom 
the Christian Church reverences so much, was doubtless 
a most excellent specimen of humanity, but nothing 
more. It may be determined that your speaker still 
lingers amid the shadows of the Jewish Church. It is 
not so. No shadow of any Church, Jew or Gentile, 
lingers around the opinion of your speaker. I believe 
in the greatness, in the omnipotence of God. But I do 
not believe that one child is more specially blessed by 
him than all others. I have more faith in his justice 
than to believe him to be a partial God. I believe 
him to be the Great Spirit pervading mind and matter, 
acting through all things, at all times, in all places, and 
I believe he finds expression more perfectly through hu- 
man senses than anywhere else, but no more perfectly 
through a Jesus of Nazareth than through any other good 



man or woman 



Q. Is it not necessary for a person to become weak 
in the physical being, in order to be in the proper condi- 
tion for spirits to manifest through? And is not the 
medium generally very weak and susceptible to all influ- 
ences, good or bad? 

A. Weakness is sometimes a necessity of these mani- 
festations, but not always. It is not a general rule. It 
is an exceptional one. There are some mediums whose 
bodily health is very excellent, while there are^ others 
who seemingly flutter between the two worlds. Some- 
times the weakness of the body can be made use of by a 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 177 

foreign spirit in giving these manifestations. Sometimes 
sound health will answer their purpose much better. 

Q. I would like to ask, if it would not be better to 
resist spirit influences, to keep away from them, and not 
allow one's self to become a medium. I am somewhat 
under the influence myself, and have been reduced from a 
strong and healthy to a very weak condition. Would it 
not be better for me and many others to keep away from 
circles where we are subject to those influences ? 

A. Your Bible teaches that you should not resist the 
spirit. It is ofttimes this very resistance that produces 
this inharmony between the indwelling spirit and the 
: physical body, therefore inducing disease. There are 
times, no doubt, when it would be well to keep away 
from these promiscuous gatherings — those gatherings 
where any and every spirit is licensed towards any and 
every individual. There are some physical organizations 
so susceptible to spirit influence that under certain condi- 
tions they will be controlled, whether it is their purpose 
to be, or the contrary. It should be remembered that 
the spirit-world proper is the more positive world ; that 
the spirit out of the body is more positive than the spirit 
in the body, and therefore has the advantage over the 
spirit in the body. All those subtile wires of electric and 
magnetic life that pass from your physical bodies out into 
the atmosphere, are all agents in the hands of unseen 
intelligences, every one of them. They can be used to 
your detriment, or the contrary. If you desire to retain 
your health, and at the same time give yourself to the 
use of foreign intelligences, it is your duty to make your- 
self as harmonious as possible — to study the laws of life 
and harmony — those laws which pertain to you as an 
individual, not those which pertain to any one else. 
12 



178 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Learn what is best for you. No general rule can be 
applied to all ; there is a law of life for each individual. 
For instance, one person is obliged to appropriate to the 
physical a certain amount of animal food each day, in 
order to keep the machine in good trim, while another 
finds that animal food is not adapted to him. Vegetable 
answers his purpose much better. You should study 
what is best for you. If a certain class of spirits come 
to influence you, to the taking away of your health, and 
substituting weakness and disease, you should learn what 
the characteristics of those spirits are, and how and why 
they injure you, and then seek to educate them as well as 
yourself. When they are satisfied that they are unjust 
to you, believe us, they will be unjust no longer. I have 
that amount of faith in humanity, either as it is in mortal 
or beyond mortality, that makes me feel that no soul will 
ever practise injustice when it is once satisfied that a thing 
is unjust, absolutely. 

By Rev. John Murray, April 27, 186S. 

Q. Will the controlling spirit give a full and complete 
definition of "mesmeric aura," in order that the unlearned 
reader may understand the intimate relation such an agent 
bears to Spiritualism ? Give us a scientific analysis of 
the whole idea, if you please. 

A. That would take a very long time to accom- 
plish, for it is of itself very great. The science of 
mesmerism is embraced in the science of life ; life here 
and life hereafter. All the emanations of these animal 
bodies may be called animal magnetism, or the animal or 
material sphere in which you, as beings of this world, 
live, move, and have your being. You are constantly 
taking on magnetic influences from everything that you 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 179 

come in contact with, and you are as perpetually shedding 
that magnetic life upon all things that you come in con- 
tact with, f When disembodied spirits desire to communi- 
cate through organic life to organic life, they of necessity 
come into communication or rapport with the magnetic 
life of the spirit. Sometimes it is exceedingly antago- 
nistic ; then there can be no perfect communion. At 
other times it is all that could be desired. This magnetic 
aura is simply thought impalpable, yet all-potent, that is 
exercised by the mind and projected through the animal 
life. You cannot see it, you cannot feel it, except with 
the perceptions of the spirit ; you cannot handle it, you 
cannot analyze it, and yet it is all-potent to the spirit. 
So far as the spirit is concerned it is all-powerful ; it 
sometimes prevents you from uttering a single word, or 
giving birth to a single thought. It is the grand agent 
that acts between mind and matter. It is the power 
that holds worlds in their places, and holds thoughts in 
their places ; it is the power that forms thought, and it is 
the power by which thought is expressed. It is infinite 
in itself, and it would be absolutely impossible to analyze 
it, because of its infinitude. 

Q. Do departed spirits have any agency in mesmer- 
ism, or is it simply the action of mind upon mind in 
the flesh? 

A.. A departed spirit may mesmerize a subject, or the 
spirit that still retains its hold upon this organic life may 
mesmerize a subject. Each can do it. A disembodied 
spirit has a certain degree of advantage over the em- 
bodied spirit, but both are able to perform the same 
thing. It is something that both the embodied and the 
disembodied can deal with. 



180 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. What is the advantage of disembodied spirits pray- 
ing through a human organism ? 

A. The same advantage is derived by the disem- 
bodied spirit that is derived by the spirit that is embodied. 
Prayer always elevates the spirit, whether it is here in 
the flesh or passed beyond the flesh. It always lifts the 
spirit beyond or outside of its present cares and perplexi- 
ties. It sheds a newer and diviner atmosphere around it, 
and attracts to itself higher and more powerful, more 
holy, more perfect intelligences, and by the presence of 
those intelligences the praying spirit receives benefit. 
You cannot remain in the presence of one that is holy, 
good, and true, without receiving benefit, for the good 
always shed a holy influence which every soul that is in 
rapport with it must feel. Prayer is of use always, and 
all souls are constantly at prayer. Now, this may seem 
to be a very wild, erratic statement, but it is nevertheless 
true. All souls are constantly at prayer, because all are 
constantly aspiring towards a better state. This is prayer. 
One kind of prayer is embodied in words, another kind in 
deeds. There are many kinds of prayer, aside from those 
that are clothed in words. 

By Theodore Parker, April 28, 1868. 

Q. Is there not a transitional condition of the atmos- 
phere, during the months of March and April, which is 
more unfavorable to health than at other seasons? 
and how can we avoid or repel such influence when 
exposed to it? 

A. I am not sure that this transition state of the 
seasons is absolutely inimical to life. Experience and 
observation have taught us that during these months certain 
planets seem to have, and do have, a direct influence 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 181 

upon the earth — an influence to call out from her centre 
what the surface has need of; consequently the elements, 
magnetic and electric, all the atmospheric elements will 
be in a state of unrest — in a state of labor — to bring 
forth renewed life. And as man is but an animal upon 
the surface of the earth, and an animal made up of 
mineral and vegetable, as well as animal and spiritual 
substances, of necessity he must feel these changes. 
But it would be unwise to determine that they are abso- 
lutely unfavorable to him. On the contrary, I think 
that were we to dispense with those conditions which 
these months bring upon us, we should find ourselves 
very much worse off than at present. These bodies that 
are upon the earth to-day are peculiarly adapted to the 
atmospheric conditions by which they are surrounded ; 
and should you, if you could, bring about the change 
which many desire in these atmospheric surroundings, the 
result would be, I think, in very many instances, fatal to 
human life. You have absolute need, as the earth has 
need, of your March winds, of your April showers, and 
of all the quick and successive changes that these months 
bring. You could not well spare them., and though they 
are, in one sense, the shadows of earth-life, yet in another 
sense they are the sunbeams, and we would advise you to 
take no course whatever to prevent their legitimate action 
upon you, for if you should do so, under existing circum- 
stances, I cannot see that it will be as well for you. 

Q. Is it ever right to exercise revenge ? 

A.. Yes, it is right to those who exercise it, but to 
those who see the dark, deformed side of revenge, it is 
not right. It surely is not the better way. ;The soul 
that exercises revenge does so because it is ignorant of 
the better way, always. \ I never knew an individual to 



182 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

exercise, or seek to exercise, revenge upon any of his 
fellows, when that individual was attended with wisdom 
upon the subject. The desire to be revenged is born of 
ignorance. When ignorance ceases to give birth to such 
monstrosities, then they will be no more. 

By Abdal Hada, April 30, 1868. 

Q. Is it true that both mental and physical suffer- 
ings are eventually beneficial to the development of the 
spirit ? 

A. The philosophy of mind reveals to us this fact : 
that intelligence can only become perfect through suffer- 
ing, both mental and physical ; as the earth can only 
reach a perfect state, or can only grow, through storms 
as w r ell as sunshine, so the soul, or mentality of man or 
woman, can only reach a perfect state through the storms 
of sorrow and human despair. 

Q. Have the inhabitants of the older planets, that 
were formed before our earth, arrived at such a degree 
of intelligence as to know how to keep in perfect health ? 
and do they live in love and harmony ? 

A. Many of them do, particularly the inhabitants of 
Uranus and Jupiter. It is the destiny of the inhabitants 
of all planets to outlive these inharmonious conditions, 
which are a necessity of the earth's growth. The inhab- 
itants of a planet grow as the planet grows. When there 
are no more poisonous reptiles, plants, or poisonous sub- 
stances on the earth, no more tornadoes ; when all these 
outward signs of violence — material, earthly signs of 
violence — have passed away, then the signs of violence 
that pertain more particularly to your human, physical 
life will also have passed away. This is the destiny, I 
believe, of human life. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 183 

Q. Have any of the inhabitants of any other planet 
ever visited this earth and made themselves known? 

A. I think, if such a thing ever occurred, it certainly 
is something very rare. The inhabitants belonging to 
each separate planet, those who have passed beyond the 
material into the spiritual life, are, of necessity, more 
powerfully attracted to the planet of which they have 
been born than to any other. Indeed, it is almost im- 
possible for the inhabitant of any other planet to visit the 
earth in propria persona, or vice versa. Everything is 
conducted in accordance with law and order throughout 
the universe, and no absolute law is ever violated by the 
spirit. 

By Theodore Parker, May 5, 1868. 

Q. If a person act as he is impressed, will he always 
do right? 

A. There are an infinite number of degrees of right, 
each one being a discreet ( ?) degree. There are also an 
infinite number of sources from which an individual soul 
can gain impressions, and the soul is quite as liable to 
receive impressions from the lower as from the higher ; 
therefore it is not always the highest wisdom to follow our 
impressions. I know it is so determined by very many 
souls, but I cannot so understand it. If we are sure that 
we are harmonious at the time with the highest good of 
which we can conceive, then we may be very sure that 
whatever impressions we receive at the time will be 
such as are not calculated to lead us astray ; but if we 
are ourselves in the shadow, in an inharmonious condition 
towards the higher, w T e shall be very likely to draw corre- 
sponding impressions, and be liable to be led astray. In 
order to understand when our impressions are of the right 
character, and when they are not, and when they are 



184 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

likely to lead us up or to lead us down, we must under- 
stand always when we are in harmony with the great good 
that is beyond us. We must learn to measure ourselves 
by this great outside good, this eternal God, never for- 
getting that the balances are within. The only balance 
wherein we can weigh our own individual condition of 
being is within ourselves, and we call it reason, the high- 
est of all the attributes that the great Father has seen fit 
to endow the human with. 

By T. Starr King, May 7, 1868. 

Q. Do the dwellers in the spirit-spheres construct 
habitations, gardens, &c, according to their individual 
tastes? and by what process, and of what materials? 

A. There are, indeed, gardens in the spirit-world so 
much more beautiful than what you have here, that you 
can form no just estimate of them. Indeed, everything 
that finds expression here is more fully represented with 
us. All the beauty of life, all the power of life, every- 
thing that is expressed in art, in science, in nature, all 
find a counterpart in the spirit-world. It would be abso- 
lutely impossible for us to give you so close an analysis 
concerning the material of which all their beauty and 
power are constructed, because you are bound about by the 
law of your human senses. Your eyes cannot see, your 
ears cannot hear, neither can it enter into your hearts to 
conceive all the glories that pertain particularly to the 
spirit- world. You may catch faint glimpses of its reality, 
but the clear noon-tide glory of the reality you cannot 
behold, you cannot understand, until you too shall become 
disrobed of the flesh, and shall stand gazing upon it 
through spiritual senses. 

Q. Some creeds would teach us that kindred ties 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 185 

which exist in this life are no more when we enter the 
spirit-world. Is this true in any manner? 

A. All ties that belong to the soul, the soul carries 
with it when it is resurrected from the body of flesh. 
The loves which we had are ours still ; and all the condi- 
tions of our mental being we carry with us to the spirit- 
world, because we shall have need of them there. Our 
friends do not forsake us there, neither do we forsake 
them. All true attraction is most clearly represented in 
the spirit- world. There is no breaking of law ; there is 
no sundering of ties, not by any possibility ; and the soul 
finds that its hopes will be so fully, so absolutely realized 
in the spirit-world that there is no room left for doubt. 
The mother that loves her child finds the child beyond 
the tomb, and vice versa; and all our friends that we 
held so dear by those ties that God gave us, are clustered 
around us again in our spirit-home. No, no ; do not be- 
lieve in those creeds which teach of the sundering of ties 
that are so dear, so close unto the soul. 

Q. I would like to ask if sufficient individuality lin- 
gers about the earthly remains of a departed spirit to 
enable it to recognize those particles and feel attracted to 
them when ascended and sublimated ? 

A. The summer-lapd, or spirit-world, is composed of 
particles that once inhabited material forms, because the 
ethereal spirit finds expression through all grades of mat- 
ter. It comes up from the lower, growing into the higher, 
forever and forever leaving the lower and entering the 
higher. In this sense the summer-land is constructed of 
atoms that were once in natural crude forms. There is a 
certain attractive power by which the disembodied spirit 
returns to the earth, and is attracted to its cast-off earthly 
garments. There are some in whom the attraction is 



186 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

very strong, and it continues to act with potent power 
upon them until the magnetic and electric life becomes 
thoroughly changed in the body it has left; in other 
words, till all the particles become more or less decom- 
posed ; till it has thrown off all its magnetic and electric 
exhalations. 

Chairman. — I think the questioner wishes to know if 
the spirit is attracted to those particles that have ascended 
or become sublimated. 

A. Yes, certainly ; that would be a natural conse- 
quence. Allow me to illustrate further. You have been 
taught that you build your spiritual dwelling-places day 
by day ere you enter them, and you do in this sense : by 
your earthly deeds, by your earthly thoughts, you exhale 
spiritual particles that find their appropriate place in your 
own spirit-home. If they are bright and beautiful, your 
spirit-home will be correspondingly bright and beautiful, 
and you must, of necessity, gravitate to your home at 
death. You can go nowhere else. It is the law of your 
being. You cannot find a resting-place in the home of a 
Socrates or a Franklin, but your own home is yours, and 
there you must go. Every spirit has its own locality, and 
it will gravitate there because of a law by which it is sur- 
rounded, and in which it lives. That law acts upon the 
home with attractive power; it acts also with the indi- 
vidual, — plays between the two, — and you go there by 
virtue of absolute necessity. 

Q. Do spirits now living in the body pass from their 
body to mediums, and control them in the same way that 
spirits do that have laid aside the body ? 

A. Not very often. There are rare exceptional in- 
stances of this kind. But they are the exception, not 
the rule. Generally, the spirit who has not thrown off 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 187 

the external body, who desires to control another spirit, 
does so by virtue of a psychological power, through the 
medium of magnetism. They throw their will upon the 
negative subject, and it becomes their subject to all in- 
tents and purposes. 

By William E. Channing, May 11, 1868. 

The chairman read the following letter : — 

" Editors of Banner of Light : I am a regular 
reader of your paper, and especially enjoy the message 
department, and atn weekly watching for a communica- 
tion from a dear friend who has lately passed away. But 
I fear that nothing he could write would favorably affect 
his sceptical friends if preceded by or published in connec- 
tion with such a message as comes from Cornelius Winne. 

"Freddy Harmon, in a communication in the same 
paper, says Mr. Parker would like to have his (Freddy's) 
mother: prepared to receive the truth. I cannot see the 
propriety of publishing messages which are in their na- 
ture repulsive to people of intelligence and refinement, 
and calculated to make them feel that devils are w let loose 
upon the earth." Do such minds as Theodore Parker 
and William E. Channing approve such publications? I 
do not object to such communication in a private circle, 
if any good can come of it to spirit or mortals. 

K I sometimes think there are spirits on a low plane who 
influence and pervert the minds of mediums not suffi- 
ciently guarded against false teaching ; I cannot other- 
wise account for the folly and fanaticism that too often 
passes under the name of Spiritualism. Spiritualists 
claim to be governed by reason and science, and there is 
even more impropriety in their following blindly all that 
comes from the spirit-world, than for Christians who take 
the Bible as an infallible guide. 

• There never has been anything more disastrous in its 
effects on mankind than religion without reason. Every 
kind of crime and persecution has been perpetrated under 
its name. And it is only when guided by science, reason, 



188 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

and wisdom, that we may expect Spiritualism to perma- 
nently bless mankind. That you may be guided by in- 
finite wisdom in your efforts to enlighten the world is the 
earnest desire of the writer." 

A, We are told that Christ came not to call the riofht- 
eous, but sinners, to repentance. He came not to point 
the way to heaven to those who already knew it, but* to 
those who had no knowledge of the way. He came not 
to lift up those who had no need of his strength, but he 
came to upraise the down-trodden ; tljpse who had fallen 
in the way of life ; those who, in consequence of their 
ignorance, had made disastrous mistakes in life. To such 
Jesus came, and in behalf of such we are here to-day. 
Our platform is free to all, even unto the fabled Lucifer 
himself. The dusky-browed Indian and African, with all 
their ignorance, are welcome here ; those who have been 
down-trodden in earthly life, who, in consequence of ig- 
norance, of false teaching, of all those unhappy condi- 
tions that often cluster around the soul while here ; those 
who have been under such conditions, and have entered 
the^ spirit-world with all that mental darkness that makes 
the hell that the soul is sometimes plunged into, they 
even are welcome here with all their darkness, with all 
their sin, and with all their stained garments ; they are 
welcome here. Your correspondent asks if a Channing 
and a Parker countenance such communications. Most 
assuredly they do. I speak for myself, and I know my 
good brother Parker would say even more than I say 
upon the subject. If the founder of the Christian reli- 
gion — that spirit who has been held up as a pattern of 
goodness, of morality, of all the Christian virtues, for 
many centuries — did not think it amiss to walk and talk 
and commune with publicans and sinners of the lowest 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 189 

class, shall we do less? The spirit of truth calls all to 
its standard, the high and the low, the bond and the free, 
the wise and the ignorant, and your correspondent makes 
a lamentable mistake in supposing that caste divides souls 
in this free spirit-land. It is not so. Such folly belongs 
to earth. It has no place in the glorious spirit-land — 
none whatever. The dusky-browed African and Indian 
are as precious in the sight of the great God as the fair 
Anglo-Saxon. The soul that is bowed down with igno- 
ranee and crime is equally dear to the Great Father. No 
darkness, however moral, however mental, no kind of 
darkness, is so dense that the spirit of truth and infinite 
love and wisdom cannot enter there. Your correspondent 
fears that the mother may not receive a communication 
from her departed one if appearing side by side with one 
of the lowly ones of earth. It is time your correspondent 
came out of that darkness into better light, and rose above 
these mists and fogs, and put on a garment that could not 
be contaminated by any of the conditions of human life. 

Q. I would like to ask if the controlling influence 
recognizes as a fact that the power controlling the uni- 
verse is of itself conscious of human consciousness. 

A.. I do not so believe. I believe that the great uni- 
versal consciousness is expressed through forms, human 
consciousness, and perhaps nowhere else so perfectly. 
There is a kind of consciousness that belongs to certain 
lower spheres of animal existence, but when it rises into 
the human it becomes more perfect, more beautiful, more 
elaborate. I cannot conceive of a consciousness apart 
from form, from that which we perceive around us through 
our fellows. I do not believe in a God apart from his 
works. Such a God would be so far beyond my compre- 
hension that I could not worship him. I believe that 



190 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

God acts through his works, and manifests consciousness 
wherever there are organs adapted to such an expression. 

Q. Do you recognize life anywhere, in any condition, 
without a consciousness to correspond with that condi- 
tion ? 

A. I do. Yes, I believe there are an infinite variety, 
or number of kinds of life that possess no distinctive con- 
scious condition. Still, life is there. 

Q. Then consciousness must have a beginning. 

A. Not necessarily. At all events, it would be very 
hard to determine where consciousness began. We have 
no knowledge of its ever having had a beginning. So 
far as forms are concerned, as a matter of course, it has 
had a beginning there. Consciousness had a beginning 
upon this planet, but had existed somewhere else millions 
of years before this planet came into life, no doubt. 

Q. It is generally conceded that whatever had a be- 
ginning, necessarily has an end ; and if consciousness is 
not found wherever life is found, it seems to me that it 
must have a beginning somewhere, and necessarily would 
have an end. 

A. So far as form is concerned, it does have an end. 
The consciousness that belongs to your physical form will 
have an end, so far as that form is concerned. But the 
consciousness will live. It is dependent for expression 
upon form, and it changes according to form ; but I do 
not believe that it is created by form, or that it ends with 
the decay of the form. It is possible that there may have 
been a time when consciousness was born, when it was 
created; but we know of no such time. Were .we able 
to go back in our own conscious lives millions of years in 
the past, we should still find, I think, millions of years 
more where consciousness had life. 



FROM THE SPIRLT-LAND. 191 

Q. It has been said that Christians seldom manifest 
here. Can you throw any light upon the subject? 

A. That is false. We will venture to say, that at 
least seven out of every ten who manifest here have been 
in some way attached to some Christian church when on 
the earth. Those persons who think otherwise have only 
to peruse the back numbers of our paper ; they can satisfy 
themselves. I am quite sure that those who have be- 
longed to different churches when here, who have com- 
municated at this place, are far in the majority. 

By Edgar C. Dayton, May 14, 1868. 

Q. If memory ever lives with us, may not it make 
the future life unpleasant or intolerable? 

A. Yes, it certainly will, in many instances, make it 
exceedingly unpleasant. The man who has defrauded 
his neighbor in any sense, who has practised the various 
kinds of injustice that are exhibited on the earth, who 
has committed errors against his own conscience — such 
a one cannot but expect to receive condemnation in con- 
sequence of remembering those acts in the spirit-world. 
We carry with us all the lights and shades of our being 
here to the spirit-world, and if the shade preponderates, 
why, certainly, we cannot but be unhappy. Now, then, 
see to it that you do not carry those things to the spirit- 
world that, when you remember, will cause you regret. 
For if you do, you will carry your hell with you. Be 
sure of that. 

Q. Do we not gain a heavenly condition by our own 
efforts and aspirations, or are we aided by divine influ- 
ences ? 

A. We gain it by both. Aside from our own aspi- 
rations, from our own desire to obtain the best that God 



192 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

has in store for us, we also have the aid of all the good 
there is in earth, because all good is inseparably bound 
together. We make our own heaven and our own 
hell, but we find the law is augmented by outside condi- 
tions. 

Q. Is there a distinction in the soul's future between 
sins of intention and of ignorance ? 

A. Certainly there is, so far as the individual is 
concerned. If you commit an error, and you know at 
the time you commit it that it is an error, — that it is not 
the best way, when remorse for the commission of that 
error comes, it will be very much more keen than if you 
had committed the error in ignorance. 

By Thomas Paine, May 19, 1868. 

Q. Does the human mind ever become impaired? 

A. Certainly it does ; for the mind is only the mirror 
that is placed between the external organism and the soul 
or spirit, through which the spirit reflects itself upon ex- 
ternal things. As it is a result of external life, it acts 
under the law of external life, and is subject to the vary- 
ing conditions of that life. If the body is sick, so is the 
mind. If the body is weak, the mind is correspondingly 
weak ; but you are very apt to confound the mind with 
the soul, when the truth is they are two distinct bodies or 
entities of being, just as distinct from each other as soul 
is distinct from the external body. 

Q. Can you describe the soul? 

A. No, certainly not ; any more than I could describe 
God. It describes itself. It writes its own history. It 
figures itself upon all things in being. The soul is ex- 
pressed by the artist upon his canvas, by the muse when 
he gives forth harmonious sounds. The soul is expressed 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 193 

through mechanics and all the various arts and sciences 
of life. 

Q. With regard to the first question, do you mean to 
say that there is a distinction between the mind and the 
soul in the lower animals, or that they have no immortal 
part? 

A. I believe that all things, in a certain sense x are 
immortal. I believe, also, that that which is instinct in 
animals is the same as mind is to the higher animal, man. 
It is but the mirror through which the inner part ex- 
presses itself, — reflects itself upon the external world. 

Q. The other branch of the question — are they im- 
mortal ? 

A. In a certain sense, they are. But so far as their 
individuality in form is concerned, I do not think that 
they are. I have no evidence that they are. 

Q. Are educated and uneducated minds together in 
the other world? 

A. Certainly they are, just the same as here. If 
they were not, I should have very small hope for the un- 
educated. 

Q. Do the uneducated progress in the other world ? 

A. Certainly ; just the same as here, only the facil- 
ities for their education are far better than here. 

Q. Will not spiritual telegraphy one day supersede 
our present system of physical telegraphy ? 

A. It is by no means an impossibility. On the con- 
trary, it is highly probable. There is a class of mind;? 
who believe that the time is not far distant when this 
phase of spiritual science will be brought to earth and 
successfully used. It is unconsciously in action amongst 
you all the time. Mind is perpetually telegraphing to 
mind, all over the world, and surely it is very reasonable 
13 



194 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

to suppose that the time will come when you will have a 
thorough understanding of the science, and will make it 
applicable to the external world, — will make it of use. 
For thousands of years, ay, for millions, for aught I 
know, the lightning was of no possible known service to 
man. He did not know that he could make use of it. 
In his savage state he feared it, and there were many 
who worshipped it, but none who understood its power, 
and how to make it of use to human life. By and by a 
Franklin arose, and the lightning became a toy in his 
hands. And in later years it is your most humble ser- 
vant. Now, considering that the soul is marching 
through all conditions of being, analyzing all, and mak- 
ing all subservient to itself, it is very reasonable to sup- 
pose it will not overlook this. 

Q. Do men ever deteriorate in the other w^orld? 

A. I do not believe that they ever do ; neither here 
nor there. 

Q. Are not some going higher and some lower, 
there as here ? 

A. I have seen nothing to cause me to believe that 
the soul ever falls from its high estate. It may seem to, 
to senses that do not understand the modus operandi of 
life, but I cannot believe that it ever does. There are 
mountains and valleys in our experience. It is just as 
essential for us to descend into the valleys as it is to as- 
cend the mountains ; but because there are mountains 
and valleys, I cannot believe that the soul does lose any- 
thing of its high estate, its first pure life, by descending 
into the valley. On the contrary, I believe it is always 
in the ascendant, ever nearing its great source. You 
call that source God. Perhaps it is as good a name as 
you could give it. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 195 

By William E. Channing, May 26, 1868. 

Q. In this question I am going to use the words 
wife and husband, first in their conventional sense, and 
then in what I call their spiritual sense. We know, as a 
matter of fact, that in this world a man will sometimes 
marry three or four wives, a woman three or four hus- 
bands ; but, spiritually speaking, can a man have more 
than one wife, or a woman more than one husband? 

A. No, I do not think they can, because I think the 
positive and negative form the whole. The one man and 
the one woman form the whole — the rounded being. 
One is imperfect without the other. The time is coming, 
but it is in the distance, when you will understand that 
that marriage which is not of the soul is no marriage at 
all ; that that which is brought about by external condi- 
tions is altogether unlawful. That which God has joined 
together none can put asunder, but that which is joined 
together by the conditions of human life, almost any one 
can put asunder ; and it is lawful that they should, be- 
cause the parties are unlawfully bound together. The 
time is coming when you will understand this subject, 
when it will be more simplified, when it will enter as a 
part of all human education, and become, to a certain 
extent, the basis of human education. 

Q. Considering the present condition of society, and 
how very little the moral sense is cultivated to what it 
will be in the future, is it not expedient that for the pres- 
ent there should be what we call a marriage form, and 
that persons entering the marriage state should give cer- 
tain pledges to society, and receive the sanction of society 
to live in that condition ? 

-4. Most certainly they should. "Render unto 



196 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the 
things that are God's." Society, in its present condition, 
demands certain things, which it is right to accord. 

Q. Can you throw any light upon the psychological 
nature of what we call madness? To me it is a problem 
less relieved by light than almost any other, and as cir- 
cumstances have brought me in connection with several 
persons suffering from it, I am particularly anxious to 
get some information in regard to this most wonderful 
and sorrowful phenomenon. 

A.. Madness is divided into a great many different 
phases, and is induced by as many different causes. 
Sometimes it is the child of antenatal conditions — very 
often it is. Sometimes it is the child of spiritual condi- 
tions — very often it is. Sometimes it is the child of 
human surroundings, begotten out of the ill-assorted 
conditions of human life. Now, in order to deal suc- 
cessfully with all kinds of madness, we must understand 
in each special case what the cause is, then deal with it 
according to the needs of the case, and by no means 
tamper with the effects. Then you will be sure of effect- 
ing a cure when it is possible to. 

Q. I think I understand, so far as you have gone ; 
but I would ask, What is madness in itself — in its own 
essence ? 

A. It is an unequal distribution of the nervous 
forces. The nervous forces, in all kinds of madness, 
from whatever cause, are unequally distributed. There 
is an inharmony between the forces, positive and negative, 
and whatever you can do to produce harmony or equilib- 
rium there, will be sure to effect a cure. It lies in the 
imponderables of the system, nearly always; not in the 
solids. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 197 

Q. Will you allow me to make a statement personal 
to myself? For several years past I have had much ex- 
perience in connection with this sad phenomenon of mad- 
ness. I know a case of a person who now and then has 
severe attacks, and while they last she is in a most vio- 
lent and unmanageable state. Now, if I go into the 
room while she is in this state, I have only to stand and 
look at her, and say, very quietly, "Sit down," and it is 
precisely as the waves dropped at the feet of Jesus 
when he said, "Peace, be still;" that woman is as per- 
fectly calm and self-possessed as I am at this moment. 
Can you explain how this is effected? 

A. By the most simple of all rules. You transmit 
through your thought, your desire, just that which is 
needed to produce this equilibrium of the nervous forces. 
You throw upon the subject a magnetic life which at 
once calms the mental waves. 

Q. Is the power to throw this magnetism upon an- 
other a power independent of the individual who pos- 
sesses it? I am not a relative of this woman. Ten 
years ago, I did not know such a person lived. No 
blood relation, no dearest friend she has, has the smallest 
power over her. They are sure to-irritate her all the 
more. I calm her, as I say. How is it that I can do it, 
when no one in sympathy with her can ? 

A. Simply because you are in magnetic rapport with 
her, and they are not. She is receptive of your mag- 
netic life, and is not of theirs. Yours is peculiarly 
adapted to calm this disturbance ; theirs is not. 

• 

By Theodore Parker, May 28, 1868. 

Q. I wish to ask with reference to testing spirits that 
come to us. We have sometimes been very sadly mis- 



198 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

led. When a spirit purports to be present, how can we 
know to a certainty that it is the spirit it professes to be ? 
We have frequently tested them by asking if they were 
willing to say amen to the Lord's Prayer. This test was 
suora-ested to me by William Howitt, who said it had nev- 
er failed him. Can you tell me of any test upon which 
we may always rely ? 

A.. My dear, good friend, by no possibility can you, 
in mortal, under present circumstances, ever be thorough- 
ly sure of the identity of any returning spirit, because 
the returning spirit is out of your sight, beyond the realm 
and sphere of your natural senses, and these senses alone 
are the powers by which you can weigh and measure all 
things with which you come in contact. Now, I may 
tell you I am the spirit of such an individual who lived 
at such a time, and I may tell you what is absolutely true. 
You may believe it, but you cannot know it. You have 
only my word for it. You cannot see me — I am be- 
hind the screen of another life. You only see that life, 
and as much of my own as I am able to give through that 
organic life. Now, I care not how many prayers you may 
repeat, or how many " amens " the spirit may add there- 
to. It will make not the slightest difference with regard 
to testing the identity of the spirit. You can only test 
it so far as your own reasoning faculties will carry you — 
no farther. "So far shalt thou go, and no farther," says 
the external life. Now, then, I will venture to say that 
seven at least — that is setting it low — out of every ten 
returning spirits come with an honest purpose. They give 
you just as much as is possible, under their "conditions, 
and they have no intention whatever of deceiving. Those 
who do are the exception, not the rule. You find those 
who deceive, who love to deceive, here. They go to the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 199 

spirit-world with the same tendencies ; they return with 
the same, and they manifest the same till they have out- 
lived it. It is a law of celestial life that the soul shall 
outlive all its imperfections. It shall pass beyond all 
its mental darkness. It shall come so near the Infinite 
that it shall part with all its grossness, with all that which 
fetters it, with all that which makes it in any sense moral- 
ly deformed. Understand us to say, we know of no way 
by which you can, for an absolute certainty, test the iden- 
tity of any returning spirit. We are honest in so telling 
you. You should measure all by your senses ; receive 
all that comes within the test of your senses ; all that 
you feel in your inner life to be good, to be true, to be 
what it purports to be, receive and appropriate to your 
own use, so far as you are able. But all that you cannot 
thus weigh, lay it one side till you can ; but by no means 
cast out as worthless that which you cannot test or cannot 
understand, for by so doing you may shut the doors on 
the brightest angel that ever visited human life. 

Q. I am much obliged to you for your explicit an- 
swer, though it is not what I expected. But I would like 
to mention a case in point. A spirit comes and tells me 
it is my duty to take a certain step involving an impor- 
tant change in my life, influencing for good or evil my- 
self, my family, and my future prospects. There is noth- 
ing in the message itself that seems unreasonable. It 
may appear a perfectly proper thing to do. Would it be 
right to trust the spirit, and follow its direction? To 
make the case clearer, suppose the spirit to say, "You 
should leave your present sphere of labor ; the climate is 
prejudicial to your health, and by going to another place 
you will do a large amount of good." Now, I am una- 
ble to say whether the climate is injurious, or whether by 



200 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

removing I should do more good ; but, if certain of these 
facts, I should, of course, at once follow the spirit's 
advice. What would be my duty under the circum- 
stances ? 

A. Well, my dear friend, from the experience I have 
gathered in such matters during my life as a disembodied 
spirit, I can give you only one answer, and that is, it would 
be absolutely wrong for you to be led in any direction by 
any spirit or spirits, however high, at the expense of the 
yielding up of your own reason. If you cannot see that 
it would be right for you to make any such move, it would 
be absolutely wrong to make it. Any spirit who returns 
asking you to lay down the brightest ornament of your 
manhood at their behest, you may be very sure is mis- 
taken with regard to your highest and best good. I can 
only answer from my own stand-point of experience ; but 
I have looked this matter fairly in the face, and have 
made it a subject of earnest investigation, and I can come 
to only this conclusion : that the reason which we have in 
human life is the oracle that stands between our God and 
ourselves, always pointing the way. We should heed it, 
and however much we may receive the advice of others, 
we should never appropriate it except it is in accordance 
with our highest reason. Do you understand? 

Q. I quite understand what you say, though it has 
failed to remove my difficulty. In this case, I see no 
particular reasons either for or against. But if perfectly 
certain the spirit was advising me to do what it knew to 
be right, I should follow it. I have no other evidence to 
guide me. 

A. Then I should say, by all means, remain just 
where you are till your evidence is sufficient to lead you. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 201 

By Joshual Beri, a Jew Babbi, June 2, 1868. 

Q. Can you tell us what has become of the ancient 
seers and sages? Can they communicate with us, or are 
they so far away that they cannot return here ? 

A. The ancient seers and sages are often in your 
midst, communicating the thoughts which they have 
gathered during their experience in spirit-life. They 
have by no means passed beyond the boundary that di- 
vides them from their old, earthly home ; on the contrary, 
they are w r ithin earth's sphere, and are constantly lending 
their intellectual life for the benefit of those w T ho remain 
on the earth. 

Q. Then it is possible that they can come directly and 
speak to us, personally, is it? 

A. They certainly can, and certainly do. 

Q. Have you ever communicated personally with the 
spirit of Jesus? 

A. I certainly have. Not with the idol of the Chris- 
tian church, but with the meek and lowly Nazarene, who 
came out from the darkness of the church and sought 
to give a new light to the people then dwelling on the 
earth. He shed his light, and religious darkness crucified 
him. He was humble in his circumstances, in his human 
aspirations. He was not at all what the Christian world 
suppose him to be, and he returns to earth to-day, just as 
much a stranger unto those who profess to know him best, 
as he was in the days in which he lived in the body. 

Q. Is not this the second coming of Christ, in a spir- 
itual signification? 

A. It certainly is. 

Q. Not in a literal, but in a spiritual sense, I mean. 

A. In both a literal and spiritual sense. That which 



202 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is literal is so unlike what you suppose, that you cannot 
recognize it. Your church declares that its saviour shall 
appear in the clouds of heaven with power and great glo- 
ry ; with many attendant angels ; with more than the 
glory that an earthly king could command ; with all the 
pomp that attends earthly sovereigns. O shame ! shame ! 
The truth of itself is grand enough without outward show. 
Wisdom needeth not to be exalted of her children. She 
will exalt herself. 

Q. Who ordered Moses to go out against the Midian- 
ites and avenge the children of Israel ? 

A. Not the Infinite Jehovah, whose love is equal to 
his wisdom, but the darkness of the times, the supersti- 
tion of the age. 

Q. Did not some ancient spirit represent himself as 
the one God, accommodating himself to the superstition 
of the people? 

A. The ancient church was in the habit of consulting 
with the spirits of the dead, and in their ignorance they 
believed, or the common people did, that these familiar 
spirits were none other than the Lord, the Jehovah. 
When Moses consulted with departed spirits, he returned 
to the people with a "Thus saith the Lord." But he 
should .have returned with a "Thus saith the spirit with 
whom I have been communicating." It is very possible 
that the spirit might have been lower in morality than 
Moses, far beneath him intellectually, but death, to an 
unenlightened mind, clothes intelligence with superior 
wisdom ; but to an enlightened mind, death takes nothing 
from the soul and adds nothing to it. 

Q. Then are the ancients very much in advance of the 
moderns in development? 

A. By no means. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 203 

Q. They have had the benefit of development in the 
spirit- world, and we in the material? 

A. Yes ; and the two generally keep pace together. 

Q. May not this age be very properly considered the 
dawn of the millennium? 

A. It certainly is. 

Q. Is it not already inaugurated ? 

A. To me it is. 

Q. And within a very short time, too? 

A. Yes. 

By T. Starr King, June 8, 1868. 

Q. Have spirits power to foresee events, and if so, 
whence do they gain that power? 

A. That they have the power to foresee events has 
been perfectly demonstrated many, many times. The 
old adage that M coming events cast their shadows before," 
is very true. It is these shadows that the disembodied 
spirit perceives, and judges concerning the objective 
form which will take place in the earth-life. Every idea 
that is out wrought fully in the earth-life, gathers to itself 
a large, long train of circumstances which are unseen to 
you, but not so to disembodied intelligences, and w 7 hoso 
is able to add together all these unseen circumstances, is 
able to give you a correct answer concerning the issue 
upon all points, from the smallest to the very largest. 

Q. Do not many attempt to prophesy who are not 
competent? 

A. Certainly. Many persons suppose they have solved 
a problem correctly, but it is one thing to suppose you 
have done a thing just right, and quite another thing to 
do it just right. But the failure of one individual does 
not detract from the power of another. By no means. 



204 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Whence comes the material that forms the spirit- 
hands so frequently seen in the presence of mediums ? 

A. From the atmosphere, or from what is contained 
in the atmosphere, focalized and condensed through me- 
diumistic life. 

Q. Is it made from elementary compounds ? 

A. It is. You are well aware, or you should be, 
that the atmosphere contains the elements of which all 
forms are made. Every conceivable form that finds ex- 
pression on the earth may be found in the elements of the 
atmosphere peculiar to the earth. 

Q. I have seen H. Melville Fay perform quite a 
number of tricks, if we may so term them, with the 
Davenport Brothers. He says he is exposing them. Do 
you think he is a medium ? 

A. I certainly do. Nay, more than that, I know 
that he is. I know also that he is given to trickery, and 
will bear a very large amount of criticism. 

Q. Then you think that spirits would assist him in his 
trickery ? 

A. I certainly do. 

Q. Then spirits do, at times, assist in deception? 

A. Why should they not? There are spirits disem- 
bodied who are upon the same plane with himself, and 
from them you should expect similar mental conditions. 
They would do what he would do. They stand no higher, 
no lower. They are ready to assist him in all that is pos- 
sible. Mediumship, or spirit manifestations, are by no 
means dependent upon any high moral law. \ They belong 
to Nature ; and Nature sometimes gives very crude mani- 
festations, while again she gives us very lovely ones. 

Q. Were not the Davenport Brothers good mediums 
at first? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 205 

A. And so they are now. 

Q. Do you think it is a benefit to Spiritualism to al- 
low Fay to go on? 

A. It certainly does not harm Spiritualism. It cannot. 

Q. Does it not in the estimation of the people ? 

A. No ; not even in the estimation of its opponents. 
Spiritualism, as a natural science, cannot be harmed by 
the trickery of one, two, or a thousand individuals. All 
these persons who practise trickery under the name of 
Spiritualism, do but excite the populace to investigate, to 
know what is true and what is false. That which they 
would use against Spiritualism the great God throws into 
the scale and uses for it. 

Q. Are spirits in the other world subject to impres- 
sions of the elements as are we? Do they experience, 
night and day, the benefits of the sun, &c. ? 

A. They do ; not in the same sense that you do, but 
in a similar sense. They have their seasons of rest and 
of intense activity. 

Q. More so than in this world ? 

A. No ; perhaps not. 

Q. Do they read time as we do? 

A. O, no. There is no time in the spirit-world, not 
such as is recognized by you. 

Q. Do they not reckon by minutes and hours, as we 
do? 

A. Nothing of the kind. Time, if it is measured at 
all, is measured by events. 

Q. How do they regulate their hours of rest ? 

A. By their needs. The spirit rests when it has need 
of rest. 

Q. Then there must be a limit to their power ? 

A. Certainly. 



206 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Theodore Parker, June 10, 1868. 

Q. Is there any one on the earth who can teach and 
truly explain the mystery of godliness? If so, I would 
thankfully ask the spirits to proclaim the name of the 
person, through the medium, that the world may be 
blessed. 

A. They who teach and continually preach of the 
mystery of godliness may be found among the little chil- 
dren of earth. I know of nothing in all the forms of 
mind and matter that preaches so eloquently of God as 
the little child ; and would you be godly, learn of them. 
They will never lead you astray. 

Q. How, and for what purpose, are spirit-lights pro- 
duced ? 

A. Through electrical effusions ; and they are pro- 
duced to satisfy inquiring minds concerning the power of 
disembodied spirits. They are focalized by means of the 
power that is drawn from the medium's body, and they 
are ignited by the same power. They are capable of 
burning in your atmosphere till that power is exhausted, 
and no longer. 

By John Pierpont, June 23, 1868. 

Q. Is there any property system in the spirit-world 
analogous to the one we have on earth, as respects landed, 
personal, or monetary property? 

A. The law of mine and thine, so far as universal 
nature is concerned, has an existence only on the earth, 
and I, for one, thank God for it. Whatever the soul has 
absolute need of, in the spirit-land, that it has, and no 
more. It cannot hoard up treasures in that kingdom of 
the hereafter. It cannot gather to itself any more than 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 207 

it can make use of; but all that it can make use of, for 
its own good and the, good of its fellows, that it will al- 
ways find. Land-holders, such as we find on earth, will 
lose their occupation in the spirit-land. Those w r ho find 
their heaven in the sphere of real estate will step out of 
heaven when death visits them. And I would advise all 
such to change their sphere while here, for so sure as 
they do not, terrible remorse and dissatisfaction of spirit 
will be sure to overtake them. 

Q. Do not the laws of Nature, justice, and harmony, 
guarantee to every one a free use of all the natural ele- 
ments, such as sunlight, atmosphere, water, and earth, in 
such quantities only as are needed for actual use ? And 
do they not forbid all monopoly of the same ? 

A. Why,* certainly. The gifts of God are free to 
all. The sun shines upon the criminal and the pious man 
alike. There is no difference. The water is just as pure 
to the sinner as to the saint. Flowers bloom in the bad 
man's garden as in the good man's. 

Q. Why should the earth be monopolized by a few, 
at the expense of the many, when the water, air, and sun- 
shine are free to all? 

A. According to higher wisdom there should be no 
monopoly, and when the soul has entered the sphere of 
the higher wisdom there will be none. It is only because 
you dwell in darkness. You are ignorant of the better 
way, that you choose that one. 

Q. Cannot mankind be taught a better system for the 
distribution of the soil, in equitable shares to all, so that 
each and all may have home and plenty, instead of, as 
now, the two vicious extremes of excessive wealth and 
extreme poverty? 

A. Yes, they can be taught in this direction, but it 



208 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

will be by slow degrees. They have been a long time 
learning to accumulate. The spirit of greed has been too 
long a household guest. It is one of the idols, and when 
it is demolished there will come weeping and wailing be- 
cause of its death. But by slow degrees the soul will be 
taught to understand that all that it gathers to itself that 
it cannot use, will be a drug in heaven's market. Now, 
remember that, every one of you. If you have a dollar 
more than you know what to do with, get rid of it just 
as quick as you can. 

Q. Could not human laws be brought up to harmo- 
nize with the natural or divine, in guaranteeing this equi- 
table distribution of land, in shares proportioned to popu- 
lation ? and would not this do more than any other thing 
to abolish poverty, degradation, and crime from society, 
and to establish justice, plenty, harmony, and happiness 
among men? 

A. Yes, but as I before said, it can only be done by 
slow degrees. There can be no sudden overturn in this 
direction. It must be brought about by a slow, even 
process of development. It cannot by any possibility 
be brought about, to stand upon a firm basis, in any 
other way 

By Joseph Lowentball, June, 29, 1868. 

Q. Have spirits the power to visit other planets ? 

A. They certainly have. 

Q. And do they? 

A. They do. 

Q. And return to this planet? 

A. They do. 

Q. Are the intelligences there informed like those of 
this? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 209 

A.. Many of them, we are told, are very well in- 
formed. Some are in advance, in many points, of the 
children of earth. Upon some planets the arts and sci- 
ences are many steps in advance of what you have here. 
It would be very egotistical to suppose, in the present 
state of intelligence, that this small earth were the only 
one of the celestial bodies that was peopled by beings 
who were intelligent, who had passed out of the baby- 
hood of the race and entered the manhood and woman- 
hood of it. 

Q. In visiting other planets, have spirits the same 
ability to enter the external sphere of the planet as they 
have of the earth sphere? 

A. I have been told that they meet with many diffi- 
culties in such expeditions, but that they are all success- 
fully overcome by the persevering. 

By Theodore Parker, June 30, 1868. 

Q. When the spirit leaves the body — if very pure — 
does it not ascend to a high altitude above the atmos- 
phere, and live in the element called electricity? If the 
spirit is gross or unprogressed, is it not obliged to remain 
on or near the earth until it has become purified ? 

A. It is not necessary that the soul should pass out 
of the atmosphere of the earth in order to dwell in the 
highest state of heaven. The atmosphere which belongs 
particularly to the soul may be found everywhere. There 
is no special place set apart for it. It has an existence 
wherever there is harmony. Whenever and wherever the 
soul is happy, when it rests in a state of contentment and 
peace, then it is in that rarefied atmosphere which you 
call by the term heaven. It is not necessary that the 
soul should rise, pass beyond the earthly atmosphere, to one 
14 



210 FLASHES OF LIGHT. 

more rarefied and electrical as belonging to human things. 
You are so apt to confound the conditions which belong 
to mind and those which belong to matter, that it is al- 
most impossible to make you understand that heaven, or 
the atmosphere in which the soul lives, is not a locality. 
It can be here ; it can be millions of miles away ; it can 
be everywhere. It is a mistaken idea that there is a land 
where the soul gravitates after death, sixty, seventy, a 
hundred or more miles out of earth's atmosphere. This 
is reasoning from an entirely, material stand-point, and 
the soul takes no part in it whatever. 

Q. You say the soul has always existed as an individ- 
ual entity — that is, it existed in embryo prior to concep- 
tion. Is not that the case with all organizing life-germs, 
whether vegetable or animal? 

A. Yes, I so believe. 

Q. It has of late been asserted by the intelligence 
controlling that the motive power controlling the body 
acts outside of the body, and controls and guides it as 
the musician does his instrument. If that is the case, 
why have we been told differently — that the spirit ex- 
isted within the body, and left it at death? Again, if the 
spirit exists outside of the body, where did it come from? 
Did it emanate from the body, or did it exist as an entity 
prior to the existence of the body ? 

A.. Both statements are equally correct. Allow me 
to illustrate. There is a life-principle within the flower, 
and that life-principle exists beyond the externally seen 
boundaries of the flower. It is not confined entirely to 
the inner, but goes beyond the material boundaries of the 
flower, is attached to the form, belongs to the form. 
Some spirits exercise their power upon their machine, the 
human body, from the external to the internal, while 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 211 

others exercise their power from the internal to the exter- 
nal. Some work from within to the without, others the 
reverse. There are no two souls playing upon these hu- 
man instruments exactly alike. Every one varies. It 
may seem to the outside observer that the musical per- 
former always acts from the external to the internal, but 
that is a mistake. So far as your external senses are 
able to perceive, he does ; but there are senses that go 
beyond them. I know of many musical performers who 
perform from the internal to the external, even in the 
crude things of this life. It is common, and you can do 
no other way than to measure all by your human senses, 
and whatever cannot be measured by them you cannot 
understand. The soul eludes this power. You cannot 
grasp it. You cannot throw it in the scales of your hu- 
man senses, there to be weighed. You cannot bring it 
within the scope of your analytical uuderstanding, there 
to be analyzed. You cannot kill it ; it escapes death. 
It is a subtle intelligence that predominates over all 
things. I believe it has ever had an existence, and ever 
will. As a controlling spirit, I surround this subject, and 
I act from the external to the internal. I possess myself 
of all the faculties of her being, but I do so from the exter- 
nal. A certain part of my life becomes absorbed, but it 
is a very small part. There are other spirits who become 
largely absorbed, so much so that they are obliged to act 
from the internal to the external. That is because the 
law of the life of the subject has a stronger controlling 
power than the external foreign spirit has. I stand upon 
the outside and draw out the forces, while others are at- 
tracted to the inner and throw out the forces. The sun 
sheds his rays upon the earth, and calls out from her 
glorious storehouse, but a certain portion of the sun's 



212 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

rays are absorbed by the earth. Study from Nature's 
great volume. It is open; it is free; and whoso would 
make it his own must study earnestly for himself. 

Q. Is the difference we see in the natural ability 
or minds of men to be attributed wholly to organization 
and circumstances, or is there more soul, spirit, or mind 
element in some than others from the beginning? 

A. The soul, when expressing itself through earthly 
conditions, is obliged to conform to the law of earthly 
conditions, and as all earthly subjects, or human bodies, 
vary in character and in being, so the expression of no 
two souls can be precisely alike. And as all bodies are 
differently constituted, so are all souls. There is a law 
by which souls are aggregated, as there is a law by which 
bodies are aggregated. Certain spiritual atoms compose 
the soul, as certain material atoms compose the body. 
All souls are compounded differently. The component 
parts of my soul differ from yours. And so it is through- 
out the vast chain of eternal life. But the life-princi- 
ple, the eternal all-pervading essence, I believe to be the 
same in the Bushman and the Hottentot as in the Anglo- 
Saxon. 

Q. It is said by media that clairvoyance is to be at- 
tributed to the peculiar organization of the clairvoyant. 
Will you tell us how it differs from that of the non-clair- 
voyant? Anatomists do not seem to find any. And if 
the cause is not in the organization, what is it? 

A. Some souls have the power, from time to time, to 
gain the ascendency over matter, overcoming its laws, 
overreaching its boundaries. These souls are able to 
perceive things beyond the boundaries of time or the pres- 
ent. They are able to extend their perception into the 
past and the future, as into the immediate present. These 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 213 

are called clairvoyants, seers, persons gifted with second 
or abnormal sight. I do not know that these persons pos- 
sess a different material organization from all other per- 
sons. I believe that the faculty or power of clairvoyance 
rests more with the spirit than with the body. I believe 
it is a spiritual rather than a material gift. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 2, 1868. 

Controlling Spirit. — In answer to a question which 
has been propounded to us at this place, but has not been 
answered, a selection will be read by the author, who has 
been absent from the body of flesh some fourteen years, 
hoping that it will answer the needs of that sorrowing 
spirit, and assist her to think in the right direction. The 
question is this : "Is it right for me, or for any one, to 
seek to obtain a permanent home on earth ? " She further 
adds, "I have all my life sought for it, but in vain, and 
I have come to think that it is not right for me to seek 
longer for a home on earth. Still I am in doubt. O 
angels, give me light." 

THE BETTER LAND,_ 

" For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." 

Heb. xiii. 14. 

No city here, no constant habitation 

Wherein to lay our throbbing hearts and fears ; 
No city here, where sorrow and vexation 

Can enter not, and bring their weight of cares ; 
No home of rest, where change can enter never ; 

No home which time can crumble not away ; 
No love-wrought ties that death can fail to sever ; 

No spot where darkness follows not the day ! 



214 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

We trust in friendship — like the tossing ocean 

The waves of time can soon deface the spell ; 
We trust in love — a word, a look, or motion, 

Can bear away the dreams we love so well ; 
We trust in fame, and find it but a bubble, 

Whose tints, when grasped, fade silently away ; 
We trust in wealth — 'tis on a sea of trouble ; 

It taketh wings and flieth in a day ! 

We have no home, no region free from sorrow — 

Poor, houseless wanderers in a desert drear — 
No place to call our own, no sweet to-morrow, 

Where pleasure comes unsullied by a tear. 
No home ? no home ? On drooping pinion weary, 

Like the lone dove that wandered from the ark, 
Must we roam on, still sad, unblessed, and dreary, 

Without a hope, a day-beam in the dark? 

Ah, no ! ah, no ! From heaven's own broad expansion 

A spirit whispers, through the shadowy blue, 
" The Father has full many a spacious mansion ; " 

There is a home, a happy home for you — 
A home where death and time can never enter ; 

It stands uncrumbled by the flight of years, 
A stream of bliss is glittering in its centre ; 

'Tis God's own city, unalloyed by tears. 

There, in that home, no throb of deep dejection 
Can check the gladness of the joyful heart ; 

But sweetly bound in God's own true affection, 
Nothing can rend those clinging ties apart. 

We have no home on earth, but sadly driven 

Adown time's stream, where sorrow leaves a trace, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 215 

Hope on, sad soul ; there is a home in heaven — 
A constant, firm, and sure abiding-place. 

Let us not mourn, though life may bring us sorrow ; 

Soon can we cast aside the cumbrous clay. 
We have a hope, a glorious hope to-morrow — 

A home in heaven, a home of constant day. 
We have no home on earth ; then let us sever 

Our thoughts from earth and its alluring love, 
And list the angel's voice, that whispereth ever, 

There is a home of constancy above. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 8, 1868. 

Q. Andrew Jackson Davis says, "Never allow any 
soul to pass out of the physical body through the agony 
of feathers or cotton, either beneath or in folds about the 
sufferer." Why does it cause them agony? 

A. Feathers possess a large amount of animal mag- 
netism, and that magnetism sustains the relation between 
the spirit and the body, sometimes for hours after it would 
otherwise have taken its departure. With regard to cot- 
.ton, we are told that the excess of vegetable magnetism 
produces similar results. Knowing this to be true, re- 
move all such obstacles from those persons who are flut- 
tering between the two worlds, whose anxious spirits are 
only kept in misery here by ignorance. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 10, 1868. 

Q. Why do coming events cast their shadows before ? 
For instance, the writer lately met with a disaster, pre- 
vious to which he kept telling his friends that something 
disastrous was going to happen ; and it did. Can it be 
accounted for? 



216 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. O yes, upon scientific principles. Everything 
that lives in forms, which your human senses can take 
cognizance of, lived in a form which the spirit senses are 
able to take cognizance of before it entered the merely 
external form. Everything lives in eternity, is governed 
by the eternal law, has existed in the past, lives in the 
present, and claims an existence in the future. To my 
mind, immortality is the gift of all things. The old 
adage that "coming events cast their shadows before," is 
eminently true, and those sensitive persons whose internal 
lives are in close communion with the other life, are able 
to behold these so-called phantoms, to recognize their 
presence. You call them apparitions, forewarnings, and 
you suppose, sometimes, that they are specialities, sent 
by God to inform you of danger. This is not so. It is 
simply the exercise of a scientific law, and as you come 
within the sphere of law, you recognize it. Millions of 
unseen, unrecognized worlds exist, beyond the reach of 
the eye or the telescope. When one after another is 
brought within the range of human vision, science does 
not think of saying, " This is a special interposition of 
divine providence." No. The time of such folly has* 
gone by. Everything that has existence at all, even in 
the most phantom-like shape, exists by law. There is 
nothing like imagination, not as you define it. There is 
no unsystematized vagary in all God's realm. Every- 
thing that is, is by virtue of natural law, and in so far as 
you understand the law and can come into communion 
with it, so far you sense that which in the external you 
cannot see, cannot hear. 

Q. Is it possible that an internal disease — curable — 
can be cured by simply laying on the hands externally ? 
A. Certainly, it is possible ; for the magnetic cur- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 217 

rents or healing magnetism that is used in the laying on 
of hands, passes more than over the surface of the animal 
life — it permeates the inner being. 

Q. Can infants, of a few weeks old, recently deceased, 
return and give an intelligible, oral message through a 
medium? If so, please give an explanation. 

A. No, they cannot do so. That is one of the things 
that are impossible. If you are told that they can, do 
not believe it. The child of three weeks old enters the 
spirit-land as a babe, nothing more. Could it talk here? 
No. Could it manifest intelligence here? No. Then 
do not look for it, simply because it has passed through 
the change called death. 

By William E. Charming, Sept. 17, 1868. 

Q. Will the intelligence please explain the following 
paragraph : — 

w Strange Hallucination. — A strange and surpris- 
ing incident occurred last week in the country some miles 
north of Corinth. A Mr. Mangrum killed a young man 
during the war, and a few days since Mr. Mangrum was 
on a deer drive, and while at one of the stands he saw an 
object approaching him which so alarmed him that he 
raised his gun and fired at it. The object, which resem- 
bled a man covered with a sheet, continued to advance 
upon him, when he drew his pistols and emptied all the 
barrels at the ghost. None of the shots seeming to take 
effect, he climbed a tree to make his escape. By the time 
he was a short distance up the tree, the white object was 
standing under him with its eyes fixed upon him, and he 
declared that it was the spirit of the young man whom 
he had killed. Mangrum was so startled at the steady 
gaze of the eye that he had been the cause of laying cold 
in death, that he fainted and fell from the tree. His 
friends carried him home, the ghost following and stand- 
ing before him constantly, the sight of which brought up 



218 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the recollection of his guilt with such force to his mind, 
that he died in great agony after two or three days' suf- 
fering." — Corinth (Miss.) Caucasian. 

A. The writer of the article seems to believe that this 
phenomenon is but a hallucination, a something unreal, a 
vagary of the brain. You Spiritualists know better — 
you, whose minds have been enlightened with regard to 
the science of life here and life hereafter, know better. 
You know very well that it is not only possible for the 
spirit to return, but it is altogether probable that, under 
such circumstances, it would return, and, if the murderer 
had any mediumistic powers, would make use of them. 
Now, if the spirit were kindly disposed, and retained no 
spirit of revenge towards the murderer, it would be im- 
possible for the spirit to seek to do the murderer harm. 
But should the spirit of revenge linger with the disem- 
bodied spirit, it would be the most natural thing in the 
world that it should seek to find expression here, and, 
finding means through which to express itself, would use 
them. This is no miracle ; it is one of the legitimate 
manifestations of your time ; a child of law, perfect in 
itself, and amenable only to the great law of the universe. 
Ignorant minds may cavil at such manifestations, but 
when their ignorance has departed their cavilling will have 
departed also. 

Q. Can spirits in the other world exercise their power 
to make people do wrong? 

A. They certainly can, and do exercise that power 
very largely. 

Q. Cannot good spirits also exercise their power to 
make them do right? 

A. They certainly can; but if the propensity to do 
wrong exists in the subject used, that propensity will be 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 219 

very likely to attract to itself a similar evil. Therefore 
the battery would be complete, and the undeveloped spirit 
would gain perfect control. 

Q. Would not the good influence have power to 
counteract the bad? 

A. Not always. No good influence can break any 
law, nor infringe upon any law. 

By William E. Charming, Sept. 22, 1868. 

Q. Why is it that at public circles our friends do not 
come. as often as strangers? 

A. If by public circles you refer to this place, we can 
assure you that all the intimate friends of the persons who 
are gathered here from time to time are prohibited from 
communicating. 

Q. I mean other circles. 

A. Then ask your own individuality why it is. Would 
you be as likely to communicate private, that is, domestic 
intelligence, to your friends when any number of strangers 
w T ere present? Certainly not. You would nine times out 
of ten feel a retiring delicacy that would overcome your 
desire to meet the friends and communicate with them. 
Now, all spirits who desire to communicate with their 
own dearly beloved ones who have passed beyond the 
vale, should remember that those friends are human 
still. They possess all the attributes of human nature. 
They would rather meet their friends in private than in 
public. Therefore, if you desire to be satisfied in the 
communications that may take place between your friends 
and yourself, meet them privately, and see to it that you 
select the very best instruments that you have any knowl- 
edge of, for the very best are none too good. 



220 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Please define the Deity. In your invocation you 
seem to address an Eternal Spirit ; I would like to hear 
that Spirit defined. 

A. I can only define God to my own satisfaction, not 
to the satisfaction of any other individual in the universe. 
To me, God is the living, eternal power of good that I 
see everywhere. I see this power in the flowers, in the 
rocks, in the air, in everything that I behold. In all 
things with which I come in contact I recognize this 
power. To me it is good ; it is God. There is some- 
thing of good in all things to me. In this sense I am a 

© © © 

materialist. I do not believe in a God apart from his 
works. I do not believe in a God outside of nature ; 
but I believe in one that is in and around us, and in all 
with which we come in contact. To me this is God. 
You may call it Jehovah, or Brahma, or by any name 
you please, but it is the great, living spirit that perme- 
ates all things and controls all. 

Q. Why do we not have better mediums, when it is 
so essential that we should? 

A. Because you do not know how to take care of 
those you have. When these are properly cared for, and 
not pampered in the wrong way ; when they are properly 
understood, and educated by you into the recognition of 
the divine life, then, doubtless, the spirit-world will ex- 
ercise its power to develop more. Now you cannot well 
care for those you have. Therefore do not ask for more 
of the same sort, or of a better sort. You would not 
care for them any better. Were the Jesus of other days 
to return, exercising his power tangibly over humanity 
to-day, would humanity recognize that power? Does it 
recognize the power? No. Jesus says, W I come to my 
own, but my own receive me not." 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 221 

Q. If Jesus is really a person, and here among us, 
why does he not come to these circles, and answer these 
questions ? Are we not now intelligent enough to accept 
it, if he did? 

jL. Would it be any more satisfactory ? I think not. 
Would the mere attachment of the name of Jesus the 
Christ to any truth make it more of a truth? Certainly 
not. 

Q. Would he come, were he invited? 

A.. It is possible, and perhaps probable. You are 
not to understand that Jesus the Christ in person, as a 
distinct spirit, cannot return and manifest to mortals, for 
he certainly can. He who, through the guardianship of 
truth, had so clear an understanding of these things, so 
far in the past ; he who could see through the darkness 
of that past, sees equally well through the brighter light 
of to-day ; and the same power that was so potent in 
other days is not less so to-day. Jesus the Christ lives 
to-day, as he lived eighteen hundred years ago. He has 
the same gifts, the same love, the same wisdom; but- 
should he come in propria persona as a spirit, an- 
nouncing himself as the veritable Jesus the Christ of 
other days, would he make you understand him? Imme- 
diately the cry of blasphemy would be raised ; hands 
would be lifted in holy horror everywhere ; and yet this 
meek and lowly Nazarene walks in your midst every day. 
Rest assured of that. 

By William E. Channing, Sept. 24, 1868. 

Chairman. The following question was sent to us 
for publication, with the request that some Spiritualist 
should make it clear, if possible. I will present it here. 

Q. Are the elements in the world beyond subjective 



222 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

or objective? That is to say, communications purporting 
to come from the spirit-land state that trees, mountains, 
rivers, and flowers exist there. Do they exist simply in 
the imagination, subjective, or are they a reality, objec- 
tive? If you step into my parlor, you, in common with 
others, agree that there are windows, chairs, and pictures 
in the room ; take the entire community, rich and poor, 
educated and ignorant, the good and the bad — all will 
agree to the same general fact. If a spirit-world exists, 
and the occupants thereof do really communicate with us 
here on earth, why, the unbeliever questions, do not the 
spirits unanimously agree, as above, in regard to the 
tangible reality of things purporting to exist in their 
sphere ? 

A. All the phenomena of nature, and all the forms 
in nature that have an existence w T ith you, have also an 
objective existence in the spirit-world proper. There are 
things, places in the spirit-world, as well as thoughts. 
The peach and the pear, the glorious forest tree, the 
mountain and the ocean, do not exist alone in the imagi- 
nation of the spirit, or in the memory of what has been. 
But they are living, tangible, present realities. Your 
correspondent asks why the spirits do not all agree upon 
this subject. It is very clear why they do not. The 
western prairie is by no means an eastern city. That 
you will admit. A wild man of your western prairie, 
when told of the swarms of intelligent beings that fill 
your eastern cities, doubts you, cannot believe you. 
And were he to pass to the spirit-world having no knowl- 
edge of these eastern cities, he would return telling you 
that his spirit-world was a prairie or a hunting-ground. 
You should not forget that the spirit-world is only a con- 
dition of being, just as your world is here. There are 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 223 

places where there are no trees, no flowers, no vegetables, 
none of the beauties of nature, nothing that would be 
beautiful to you, and there are intelligent spirits dwelling 
in such places. If they have the power to return, they 
come back reporting that there are no natural beauties in 
the spirit-world, no natural scenery. They have heard 
of it, but they have not seen it. It is all imagination. 
So it is to them. But to those who have been more for- 
tunate, it is not imagination. The happy child that re- 
turns from the spirit-land will tell you of the flowers, the 
birds, the glorious spiritual prospects, everything that 
goes to gladden the soul. Perhaps at the next breath 
one will return, saying, n There are no flowers, no fruits ; 
I see nothing of the kind. My spirit-home furnishes 
nothing of the kind." Has one been false? No; both 
have told you the truth. Your spirit-home is by no 
means the spirit-home of any other spirit. Your sur- 
roundings are dependent upon yourself. You are at- 
tracted by a spiritual law of gravitation that you cannot 
thwart to your proper places in the spirit-world. That 
place has its natural spiritual scenery, or it is devoid of it. 
Perhaps there are trees and flowers, grasses and rivers ; 
perhaps not. The great scroll of spiritual revealments 
is fast being unrolled, and slowly the mists and fogs of 
your former superstition will pass away. You have be- 
lieved in a personal Deity, seated upon a great white 
throne. You will by and by lay that false idea under 
your feet, and embrace one more rational. Just so fast 
as the light of God's wisdom and truth shines into your 
souls, just so fast you can perceive the truth in all its 
simplicity. We tell you again and again, there are 
beautiful things in the spirit-world — trees, flowers, 
grasses, fruits ; all that you have here are faithfully rep- 
resented there ; you may be sure of that. 



224 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By William E. Channing, Sept. 29, 1868. 

Q. Are all that were most pure in life and character 
here, and consequently most exalted in spirit-life, agreed 
with you in seeking to propagate the spiritual philosophy? 
and if not, w T hy not? 

A. Jesus has said, " Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." It is my belief that they who 
are truly pure in. their inner lives cannot fail to see God 
everywhere. As the soul advances in purity and perfec- 
tion, it perceives more and more of God's truths, those 
which he bad heretofore called hidden, mysterious. It 
becomes more and more fully acquainted with the science 
of life, not only the life that is, but that has been, and is 
to come. Purity, goodness, perfection, are to me one 
and the same. They are only terms used to express 
God's attributes through humanity. Those intelligences 
that passed from this earth with pure thoughts, with holy 
desires, with their inner being elevated above the dark- 
ness of human life, cannot fail to perceive this angel, 
Spiritualism, in its true light ; and seeing and under- 
standing it to be the voice of God to the children of 
earth, if they are loyal to their purity of soul, they will 
do all in their power to roll on the car of Progress, so far 
as Spiritualism is concerned. The ranks are well filled 
in the spirit-world. That vast army who seek to benefit 
earth's people know that Spiritualism is to be the Saviour 
of this age. They know it to be the light by which the 
soul shall understand something concerning the mysteries 
of godliness, and knowing this, they will labor zealously 
in the cause. 

Q. Are the opponents of this theory — viz., the 
churches and preachers of Christendom — ministered to 
by spirits ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 225 

A. They are. No one is left outside of Spiritualism 
and disembodied spirits. 

Q. We are told that man's spirit has always existed 
in an individualized state ; that whatever has a beginning 
must have an ending ; but man, as an immortal being, 
has always existed. If I have rightly understood, then, 
I would ask, Did man, in any prior state of existence, 
know more than he did at his birth into this world? 

A. The soul, in essence, is of God ; ever has been, 
is, and I believe ever will be. But that external individ- 
uality through which the essence is expressed, is perpet- 
ually changing. It is subject to the law of change, and 
from all past eternity has been passing through an infinite 
number of changes. I believe in the eternity of the soul, 
past, present, and future, but not in the eternity of the 
individuality that belongs to the present. No soul can 
claim to possess an eternal individuality. Our immor- 
tality, that which belongs to our inner lives, is of God, 
changeless, perfect. 

Q. What is progression? Could man's spirit have 
been progressing through all the infinite ages of past eter- 
nity, and still understand so little at its entrance into our 
world ? 

A. Progression, to me, is simply another term for 
change. The soul progresses in cycles, as does all life. 
It repeats itself again and again, ever revolving around 
its centre, God, and at each revolution takes on newer 
life, exhibits some more perfect attributes, stretches out 
further into infinity, becomes wiser, becomes, in the ex- 
ternal, holier. 

Q. I would like to have you give your idea of a 
power, that has been with some persons for years, by 
which, if they say to another person that a table is heav- 
15 



226 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

ier than its usual weight, that person will, in most cases, 
acknowledge that an unseen power is upon the table, 
making it quite heavy, the one speaking not coming in 
contact with the table, or using his will-power knowingly. 

A. Disembodied spirits have the power to add to the 
laws of natural gravitation, and to take therefrom. For 
instance, certain spirits have the power to make this ar- 
ticle of furniture (the table) very light or very heavy, 
but the power can be used only through certain physical 
organisms. In all probability, the individual you speak 
of possessed the requisite power. 

Q. Can this power be applied successfully in re- 
moving disease at a distance by sending a letter ? 

A. It certainly can. 

By Rev. Henry Ware. 

Q. Some one states that spirits have to prepare a 
person who is to become a medium, by spiritualizing his 
forces before they can manifest through him. Is this a 
fact ? and what is the substance used in his training ? 

A. I am not aware that mediumship is a thing of 
art. To me, it belongs to life and to nature, and any 
kind of training cannot change its quality. Disembodied 
spirits do often experiment with mediums, but it is not 
that they may change the mediumistic forces, but that 
they may understand them. It is not that they may 
make a person a medium, but that they may learn to use 
the powers already in existence. Mediums are such 
from conception. It is a power over which they had no 
control, and in which they had no voice whatever. It is 
a part of their nature, and a part of their life. The ele- 
ments used by disembodied spirits are found pervading 
the nerves. This subtle force that brings the departed 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 227 

spirit into communion with those still in the body, is the 
life-principle of the nervous system. No kind of phys- 
ical training can create it, or change its inherent prop- 
erties. The power that is within may be brought to the 
exterior, but it is essentially the same. And they who 
tell you that they can develop mediums, or make or 
change them, tell you what is wholly unsound. It mat- 
ters not where the teaching comes from. Nature and the 
science of life determine it to be unsound. 

By Thomas Paine, Oct. 12, 1868. 

Q. Is the formation of the National Association of 
Spiritualists sanctioned by the spirit-world ? In other 
words, was the movement premature, or otherwise? A 
concise answer is solicited by many inquiring minds. 

A. There is always more or less agitation preceding 
the birth of any new idea, subject, or condition, whether 
mental, physical, or spiritual. The movement in ques- 
tion is in itself partly premature and partly upon the 
threshold of its proper time. Spiritualists and Spiritual- 
ism are by no means, at the present time, one. They 
are as clearly separate from each other as the earth is 
separate and different from the stars ; belonging to one 
great spiritual system, but having distinct individualities. 
Spiritualists have hardly the first true idea of what Spir- 
itualism is, and what it demands of them. To be united 
to Spiritualism is a very great thing. It is to part with 
all one's old ideas with regard to things of the spirit. It 
is to stand upon a new and untried platform. How 
many Spiritualists, in the deepest, and truest, and di- 
vinest sense, do this? I know of none, because I know 
of none who understand Spiritualism as it is — the all- 
mighty science of life to-day and life that is to come. 



228 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

This movement, concerning which you desire an answer, 
as I before remarked, is in part before its time, and in 
part it is upon the threshold of its appointed time. I do 
not believe in seeking to force anything into existence 
before its natural, appointed time. I do not believe in 
seeking to force a man or woman to believe what they 
are not ready to believe, to sign articles of faith of which 
they know very little. And as I believe that Spiritualists 
have not yet grown large enough to understand Spiritual- 
ism, I believe the time has not yet come for the entering 
in of the body of Spiritualists to the great temple that 
they desire to enter so earnestly. It is well to organize ; 
but it is well, before organizing, to understand what 
organization means. It is well to understand ourselves, 
and the great body of thinkers to whom we seek to be- 
come united. I would not, for a moment, throw one 
pebble in the way of this great stream of progress; but 
I would check those minds that are seeking to override 
the little things that they may gain the great things. I 
would force every Spiritualist, so called, to study the 
principles of Spiritualism ere they seek to ally themselves 
to the great cause of Spiritualism, either spiritually or 
materially. I am well aware that in union there is 
strength, and that as Spiritualists need to be strength- 
ened, they need to be united; but I am also well aware 
that there is a union more to be sought after than the 
external one. When Spiritualists are more united in 
spirit, then they will of necessity organize in the mate- 
rial. They will flow into that condition, of necessity. 
But while they are so disunited in spirit, they may seek 
permanent organization, but they will seek in vain. Let 
the organization, then, commence in the internal, and 
work to the external. How is it now? Why, even a 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 229 

casual observer need not be mistaken. While, through- 
out the length and breadth of the land, Spiritualists are 
united, perhaps, upon the one idea that spirits can return, 
and can communicate with their friends in mortal, having 
said this much with regard to their unity, we have said 
all that we can. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 13, 1868. 

Q. The intelligence purporting to be Thomas Paine 
said that Spiritualists are united in the belief that spirits 
can return. We have constant proofs that our friends do 
manifest, through favorable conditions. Will you tell us 
something about the indwelling life of Spiritualism, 
whereby we can rise a step higher in this sublime phi- 
losophy ? 

A. Spiritualism belongs to life, and is always with 
you ; and just so fast as you grow 7 in the knowledge of 
spiritual things, just so fast you come to understand what 
Spiritualism is. It is always well to seek for the highest 
gifts, for the very best places in Nature from which to 
view God and his works. The soul ever aspires towards 
the better — some in one w 7 ay, and some in another — 
and although in the outward some souls seem to retrograde, 
yet they never do. They are all seeking for happiness, 
for a better state of being. Mr. Paine remarked that 
Spiritualists were thoroughly disunited, except upon one 
point. I believe that to be true ; but I believe also that 
unity will come to the great body of Spiritualists as they 
grow in spiritual things. Just as fast as they put the 
letter under their feet, and accept the spirit, they will 
rise, and no faster ; they will come into possession of 
those diviner beauties that belong to Spiritualism ; they 
will understand it better, enjoy it more fully, and be 



230 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

more nearly allied to it. Now, as Mr. Paine says, they 
are widely apart. Spiritualists and their belief are not 
married as yet, notwithstanding many suppose, no doubt, 
that their belief is very dear to them. So it is ; but it 
has not yet become a part of their inner lives. All 
things in Nature grow by slow and distinct degrees, and 
as Spiritualism is of Nature, all that belongs to it unfolds 
by slow degrees. Nature makes no marked and distinct 
overriding steps. No. Slowly and surely she moves 
on through eternity ; and so> it will be with regard to 
Spiritualism and Spiritualists. In the years that are to 
come, those persons who recognize the truths of Spirit- 
ualism will enjoy those truths — they will be wedded to 
their inner lives, for those persons will have grown large 
enough to put on the beautiful clothing that belongs to 
Spiritualism; but you Spiritualists of to-day are not 
large enough. But do not mourn because you are 
not. You are in the alphabet of this great science of 
life, and you must learn that well, ere you can take 
the next step. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Oct. 15, 1868. 

Q. What is the occupation of spirits in the spirit- 
world ? 

A. Each spirit is occupied somewhat differently from 
all other spirits. All the various occupations that are 
known to earth are also known and are in action in the 
spirit-world. The artist finds employment with us, the 
mechanic — all the arts and sciences are fully represented 
with us as with you, only on a larger and grander scale. 
Do not suppose that when you lay off your earthly bodies 
you will cease to be active as spirits, for I tell you you 
will not. There are no drones in the great hive of the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 231 

spirit- world. All are exceedingly active. Yes, the 
mechanic finds occupation there. All that the soul 
enjoys to be occupied upon, it will find ample means 
to reach in the spirit-world. 

Q. Are those who were teachers here, teachers there, 
or do they change their occupation ? 

A. That depends upon whether the teacher here was 
a teacher in spirit or only in the external. Many are 
teachers here simply from the force of circumstances. 
Such abandon the occupation when this life is done, and 
take up some other that is more congenial. But if such 
from natural inclination, you may be very sure they con- 
tinue it beyond this life. 

Q. Are all who profess to be clairvoyant really so ? 

A. Every soul is, to a certain extent, clairvoyant. 
Clairvoyance is an attribute of the soul, of all souls — 
some are more largely gifted than others in this respect. 

Q. Is there as much evil existing in the spirit-world 
as there is here ? 

A. There is evil existing in the spirit ; you may be 
sure of that. But I define evil simply as the lesser good. 
There is not that class of evil existing there that you find 
here, but there is an outgrowth of the same evil circum- 
stances in the spirit-world as here. For instance, the 
drunkard enters the spirit-world as a drunkard. Death 
does not change him, only it takes away his external shell. 
It leaves the man precisely the same ; and so it is with 
regard to all the evils or mistakes of life. The spirit- 
world finds you precisely where this lays you down. 
You do not become a saint upon entering the spirit-world 
when you have left this as a sinner — by no means. 

Q. What means are taken to correct evil in the spirit- 
world ? 



232 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. All the various means that human or divine reason 
can devise. There are no prisons in the spirit-world ; 
there are no gibbets. The soul is not forced into the 
better way through fear, but always through love ; and 
love is always attended by wisdom and justice. With 
these three angels no soul can, for any great length of 
time, remain in evil, or in spiritual darkness. The soul 
who is prone to what you call evil, is slowly and distinctly 
shown the better. All the consequences of evil are dis- 
tinctly portrayed to the soul in all their power, and, at 
the same time, the consequences of a pure and holy life 
are portrayed to the soul. It instinctively chooses the 
better way then, and if it is weak, there are plenty who 
are strong to give the helping hand. There are no 
Levites in the spirit-world. Good Samaritans meet you 
at every turn. 

Q. Is ignorance universal on the earth ? 

A. It certainly is. It goes hand in hand with wisdom. 
You may be wise upon certain points, and exceedingly 
ignorant upon certain other points. Every soul possesses 
a certain amount — and that amount depends upon the 
capacities and characteristics of the soul — of wisdom 
and of ignorance. A Daniel Webster may be very wise 
so far as Coke and Blackstone are concerned, but very 
ignorant of the moral law. 

Q. Several spirits have returned to me and reported 
that they had been lying in a trance state, or sleep, 
during their stay in the spirit-world, some four, some 
eight, ten, or tw r elve years. Can you explain that? 

A. The soul sometimes remains in a mystified, be- 
fogged condition after death. The length of it depends 
upon the inner power of the spirit to burst the chains of 
darkness and set itself free. The excessive use of certain 



FRO M THE SPIRIT-LAND. 233 

stimulants here on the earth will so mystify and befog 
the spirit that it will remain for days, perhaps weeks or 
years, in that clouded, uncertain state — neither conscious 
of their own condition nor of their surroundings. They 
cannot tell you whether they are on earth or in the spirit- 
world. But when their inner power asserts itself, the 
mists and fogs begin to disappear. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 19, 1868. 

Q. Does every person upon entering spirit-life be- 
come united to a conjugal companion forever ', or is the 
companion changed as his or her condition changes ? 

A. Spirits grow and live in accordance with the law 
of necessity. If a companion is an absolute soul-neces- 
sity in the spirit-land to any individual, you may rest 
assured the companion can be found and obtained. Some 
souls grow better alone for a time, while others reach out 
for that close communion and companionship which is 
found alone with the male and the female. There is a 
marriage which belongs to the soul. The soul utters its 
own ceremonial, makes its own bonds, and breaks them 
whenever the law shall so determine^ Now do not sup- 
pose that any condition of being, whatever it may be, 
whether marriage or the contrary, is eternal, everlasting; 
for you are all creatures of change. You pass from one 
condition to another by virtue of the law of necessity 
that governs you as individuals. / Some rise by one 
process, and some by another. Some, in order to rise, 
go down into the valleys of despair, and thus gain power 
to rise, while others have no need of going there. No 
two souls unfold by exactly the same process. 1 Every 
soul has its own inherent process of unfold ment, its own 
inherent law, and it obeys that law to the letter. There 



234 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is no trespassing upon it, no setting it aside, no breaking 
it. All must succumb to the law of their being. If the 
law says a companion is a necessity, the law will provide 
it. Now you may be very sure of that. Here in this 
life you are cramped and confined by conventionalities 
that are not known in the spirit-world. They belong to 
the things of time, and when you are done with time, so 
far as this, your human life, is concerned, you are done 
with these crude conventionalities. You pass into a 
clearer mental atmosphere ; you enjoy purer perceptions ; 
you can see farther into the future, and your present is 
better understood by you. You know better how to 
choose from your surroundings that which will make 
you happy. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 20, 1868. 

Q. To whom should we pray? 

A. The power, the spirit which giveth birth to prayer, 
will teach us all, individually, how we should pray. As 
our prayers are born of divine will, they will reach the 
source we designed them to reach. The soul prays ever 
to that which it conceives to be better than itself. It lifts 
up its sphere of ignorance to the sphere of wisdom. In 
its weakness, it prays to the source of strength. In its 
imperfectness, it prays to the perfect source. In its finite 
perceptions, it prays to the great infinite whole. As the 
little stream going down the mountain side finds the 
ocean, so our individual prayers will find the great ocean 
of infinite good, the eternal presence, the spirit of all 
good, of all wisdom. It matters not by what name we 
designate it. Names are of small account, only so far as 
they are used to represent ideas. We pray to Jehovah 
as the past, present, and future spirit of all things. The 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 235 

Brahmin prays to Brahma as the Great Spirit that he 
understands. The Indian prays to the Great Spirit that 
whispers to him in the winds ; that he hears in the laugh- 
ing waters ; that he sees in the falling leaf and in the 
tempest. And so on through all the catalogue of life ; 
every soul prays to Deity in accordance with its concep- 
tions of Deity, and all the prayers of the soul never fail 
to reach the infinite, the all-wise, the perfect father and 
mother of every soul. 

Ey Theodore Parker. Oct. 27, 1868. 

Q. Why do mediums have to suffer so much in allow- 
ing spirits out of the form to manifest? In some cases 
they become living martyrs. 

A. All that which transcends the usual order of 
human life must of necessity produce suffering. Those 
persons who are called mediums are possessed of an ex- 
tremely sensitive organism. It must be so, because they 
are sensitive to things beyond human senses, and this 
exaltation of the nervous system produces, under the 
slightest inharmonious conditions, pain, distress. If the 
mental and moral atmosphere surrounding your mediums 
were perfectly well adapted to the mediumistic life, they 
would suffer much less ; but you are yet in the infancy of 
Spiritualism, the science of life ; you do not know as 
yet what you should do for your subjects, and what you 
should not do. In your ignorance, you surround them 
by that which they should not be surrounded by, you 
take away that which they should have. We do not 
blame you, because you do not know what is best. And 
yet the very misery through which they pass is turned to 
good again by the great overruling power of life. 
These dark experiences are made use of by the angel- 



236 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

world for good, and some of the brightest of their 
medium istic gifts are unfolded in the darkest seasons of 
human sorrow. These fair blossoms of the soil (allud- 
ing to flowers on the table) germinate in darkness, in the 
crude soil of the earth's crust. By and by the plant 
comes forth into sunlight, and what is the result? The 
fair blossom, the tender petals, beauty and fragrance. 
Use and beauty are there combined, and so it is with your 
mediums. For instance, look you at a Pierpont. Some 
of the brightest gems of his intellectual life were born into 
objective being in his darkest hour of trial. Then re- 
member that hell and heaven are very near to each other ; 
for it is only by the darkness of the one that w r e are made 
to perceive and enjoy the other; and again, only by the 
glory of the one can we know concerning the darkness of 
the other. There is a power governing all human things, 
which doeth all things well ; and however much our 
sympathies may be excited because of the many Geth- 
semanes and Calvaries through which our mediums pass, 
still, as soon as we are enabled to peer beyond the present 
and behold the glory of the future, our sympathy and 
sorrow for their sorrow is in a degree mitigated. 



© 



By Theodore Parker, Nov. 10, 1868. 

Q. Do spirits have streams of colored light emanating 
from the eyes, and other nerve-centres? If so, what are 
their colors? 

A. They certainly do. Every nerve-centre has its 
own peculiar light, and that light has its own peculiar 
color, and the brain combines all the colors of all the differ- 
ent nerve-centres. You are physically and spiritually, so 
far as form is concerned, electrical machines ; and because 
you are, you are constantly exhaling electricity, under all 
its forms, shadowing forth all its different degrees. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 237 

Q. Please give some plain understanding to the circle 
of the nature of spirit-artist control? 

A. There are so many kinds of spirit-artist control 
that I am at a loss to know which kind your correspond- 
ent refers to. 

Chairman. — Perhaps you can explain the method in 
which the drawings of Mr. Milson are given. 

A. In that special case, where the mind of the earthly 
artist is not used, of course the control is mechanical. 
The thinking power is outside and beyond the earthly 
artist, while the hand only is used. But sometimes the 
brain of the earthly artist is largely used, sometimes to a 
very small extent ; just as the controlling influence can 
best adapt itself to your external conditions. Sometimes 
it can be done better by controlling the brain, sometimes 
by cutting off the connection between the brain and arm, 
and using the arm mechanically. There are so many 
means by which spirits make themselves manifest, either 
in an artistic way or otherwise, that it would be impossible 
to enumerate them all in the short space allotted us. 

By Theodore Parker, Nov. 16, 1868. 

Chairman. — The following question is addressed to 
Theodore Parker in spirit-life : — 

During the latter part of your earthly life, prayer was 
instituted throughout the churches of a certain sectarian 
denomination that God would either convert you or take 
you out of the world. Is it true that this concentration 
of many minds acting in unison for a special purpose did 
produce the desired effect? Was your health affected, or 
your death hastened, by these unhallowed prayers? 

A. It is a well-known scientific fact that the human 
body is, to a very great extent, a psychological machine, 



238 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

because it is itself capable of being acted upon, either for 
good or ill, by all other minds. If a Dr. Newton "or a 
Jesus of Nazareth could restore a diseased body, giving 
health through the influence of a psychological law, it is 
reasonable to suppose that a counter influence could as 
well be exerted, and with as much potency. During the 
last few months of my earthly life I clearly recognized 
the baneful psychological influence that had been exerted 
upon me from the source of which your question treats. 
As I neared the boundaries of the spirit-world it became 
more and more clear to me. I did not recognize it in the 
light of a wrong, but I recognized it as a power used in 
accordance with infinite law. As I was under the domain 
of law — not at any time exempt from it — I must bow 
before its decree. The forest tree falls before the storm. 
Who shall say it is not well? The lightning shivers the 
giant oak, and I believe it to Jbe God's decree. Since I 
have become an inhabitant of the world where law is 
more understood than here, I have become clearly satis- 
fied that my mortal life was shortened, perhaps many 
months, in consequence of this psychological influence. 
Their prayers were heard and answered. It was well. 
But as the great controlling influence of life makes use 
of all conditions for good, he made use of this. Every 
single phase of life, whether greater or lesser good, I be- 
lieve to be in the hands, or under the guidance, of the 
great all-wise power of the universe — of all universes — 
and that what men act upon for seeming evil is always 
changed to good. The time is coming w r hen these same 
persons who acted through their darkness will behold pre- 
cisely where they stood, and how nearly they were related 
to justice, and how nearly I was related to justice ; in 
what religious light we both stood. The scales will fall 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 239 

from every, eye in due season, and every soul will be 
made to understand its relations to every other soul, and 
to the great God from whence we have all come. 

By Professor Hare, Nov. 17, 1868. 

Q. If two children should be born into earth-life, 
possessing equally good physical, moral, and mental or- 
ganizations, and one should be favored with all the ad- 
vantages civilization could bestow, while the other should 
pass into the hands of the wild savage, and both remain 
on earth threescore and ten years, and then pass into the 
spirit-world, what would be their relative conditions in 
the summer-land? 

A.. They would both be pure, but of different degrees 
of purity ; both be wise, but of different degrees of wis- 
dom. It should be known that the external world, the 
world of form in which you dwell as humans, is perpetu- 
ally calling out from your spirits their treasures. The 
external acts upon the internal, and calls out of its beauty. 
You might be endowed with ever so perfect a physical 
organism, and ever so perfect an indwelling spirit, but if 
circumstances and surroundings were not adapted to call 
out the life within, it would remain within. You may be 
sure of that. Now, then, while dwelling here, the soul 
is dependent upon external action, external life, external 
circumstances for its unfoldment, just as the rose is de- 
pendent upon the raindrops, the sunlight, the air, for 
strength, for power to unfold its inner life to the external. 
Do you suppose the rose would bloom beautifully in a 
dungeon ? No, it would not. The flowers need sunlight, 
shade, rain, a dry atmosphere, all the varied conditions 
of Nature, to bring from their inner lives that beauty 
which they contain. So it is with regard to the spirit. 



240 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

The child placed among savages -would give savage mani- 
festations. The soul might be identical in the two, and 
so far as it was possible for the physical life to be identi- 
cal, the bodies might be the same. The same physical 
life-line — their twin life — might run through the body, 
but it is the external difference, the external action upon 
the internal, that determines the degree, the cast of mani- 
festation of the soul. Now, herein rests a great moral 
and intellectual lesson. It is this : ye fathers and ye 
mothers, it is a lesson for you ; ye guardians of young 
minds, you should not pass it by, but know you that just 
as you call out the beauty of the child's inner life, it will 
come out. Do not undertake to force any beauty from 
the external to the internal. There is enough there ; call 
it out. Give the child proper external circumstances, 
just the very best you can. Call out of the divine that 
is shrouded in the human, and you will make a most 
beautiful, spiritual, moral, and intellectual picture, I assure 
you. Ye who would be artists of the soul, pencil well 
here, that you may present a beautiful picture of life in 
the hereafter. 

Q. Can spirits while in the human form control me- 
diums and communicate to friends at a distance ? If so, 
will the spirit please explain how it is done? 

A.. I am very glad that question has been propounded, 
for it is one that has staggered many minds ; but they 
have failed to understand the truth that they faintly per- 
ceive. As I before remarked, spirit governs matter. It 
is superior to matter, and though it renders to the law of 
matter, or form, all that is due, it does no more. It 
should be understood that the spirit, as such, can leave 
the body at will, and return again at will. If it can do 
this, it can just as easily communicate through a sensitive 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 241 

organism as can a disembodied spirit. It is nothing un- 
natural ; it is in perfect accordance with natural law, as 
you will hereafter see, if you cannot to-day. You go to 
visit your friends in dreams ; you commune with them ; 
you remember, though in broken snatches, that dream. 
It comes into your external consciousness, to be sure, 
often as a vagary, yet you generally remember some por- 
tions of it. The spirit generally transmits to the external 
consciousness some remnants, fragments of what it has 
been passing through in the dream, Now, was the spirit 
in the body at the time, or was it away with the absent 
friend? I answer most emphatically, it was away with 
the absent friend. It may be thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of miles away ; it may be in the spirit-land ; it 
may commune with its dear departed. Know you not 
that you, as spirits, can enter the soul-world and return 
again ? I tell you you can. And this gift is not bestowed 
upon a few, but upon every one of you. The smiling 
infant in its dream meets with the inhabitants of the 
spirit-world ofttimes. Does it go away from the body to 
hold commune with others? Surely it does. Spirits are 
acted upon by the law of attraction and repulsion. Sup- 
pose, for instance, you have a friend in London to whom 
you are tenderly attached. That friend may be thinking 
intently of you. You lie down to rest. The thought of 
the friend reaches your spirit, and with lightning speed 
you are there, just as much a spiritual presence as you 
ever can be. It may be asked, Do you take your spirit- 
body with you? Surely you do ; you could not go with- 
out it ; could not make a single impression without it. 
Now, this will account for the many mysterious messages 
that have been supposed to come from a departed spirit, 
when it was afterwards ascertained that the spirit was in 
16 



242 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the body. There are exceptions, to be sure, to this, as 
to all other rules. It is by no means impossible for some 
disembodied spirits to assume to be whom they are not, 
and thus to impose upon the credulity of human life. I 
only tell you that this is not only possible to be done, but 
it is an exceedingly simple and natural process, and quite 
as easy to be performed as that I speak to you through 
this sensitive subject. 

Q. You speak of spirit being superior to matter. 
What is your opinion of the theory that spirit is itself re- 
fined or sublimated matter? 

A. I so believe ; but I speak of it in contradistinc- 
tion to matter, because you have been so educated. You 
have been educated to divide the two, but, to my own 
mind, spirit and matter are one and the same, spirit being 
only a refined degree of matter. Now, you well know 
that the finer, the more subtle an element is, the more 
powerful it is. Therefore, if spirit be, as I believe, re- 
fined matter, that does not destroy my theory at all, but 
renders it, if possible, more sure, more perfect. Matter 
is ever ascending in the scale, and the higher it ascends 
the more powerful it becomes. It has been said by some 
that spirit is ever ascending through matter. Very well ; 
call it that. I call it the purer, the subtler part of mat- 
ter, ever ascending, and the farther it ascends the more 
it unfolds, the more powerful it is, and the more it can 
exert great influence over all lower forms. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 3, 1868. 

Q. Supposing the doctrine of pre-existence true, is it 
at the option of the spirit that it returns and clothes itself 
in another earthly form ? Spirit-life is described as being 
far better adapted to progression in holiness and purity, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 243 

and, consequently, happiness, then earth-life ; then why- 
return ? 

A.. No ; it is not optional with the spirit to determine 
concerning the conditions of being through which it shall 
pass, and by which it shall progress. Since we have no 
knowledge of ever having had any voice concerning pre- 
existence, or so far as w-e, as spirits, are concerned as 
relating to the present, it is not at all unreasonable to sup- 
pose that the same law will continue with us through the 
future. It has been asserted that the spirit-world proper, 
or the condition of being that is beyond human senses, 
is better adapted to the unfoldment of the spirit than the 
conditions to which it is attached in human life. Consid- 
ered in a certain light, this is true ; but in another light, 
it is untrue. For since we know that we can only gain 
strength by action, and retain it by action, we know it is 
best that we be always active, it matters not whether it be 
in a physical, moral, intellectual, or spiritual sense. If 
there were no lesser good for the soul to war against, its 
powers would soon dwindle into insignificance. You may 
be sure of that. I believe that the experiences through 
which the soul passes during its journey through human 
life, are absolutely necessary for the welfare of the soul. 
I believe that certain powers of the soul are brought out 
better through the hard experiences of human life than in 
any other way. I believe that the sorrow incident to the 
earthly life is absolutely necessary to bring out and 
brighten and glorify the joys of heaven. \ Talk as much 
as you may of the better condition, the soul revolves in 
the spirit-world proper, I well know; and thousands, ay, 
millions of spirits attest to the truth of this assertion, 
that the soul has need of the darkness of earth-life ; and 
as it revolves again and again, as round and round the 



244 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

circle runs, we gain at each revolution something higher, 
something better. We may pass through all stages of 
our being, but we part with something of our lesser good 
by so doing, and we gain some greater good. 

By Joy H. Fairehild, Dec. 7, 1868. 

Q. Will you give an opinion with regard to the 
following extract from Swedenborg's writings ? K When 
spirits begin to speak with man, he must beware that he 
believe nothing that they say ; for nearly everything they 
say is fabricated by them, and they lie; for, if they are 
permitted to narrate anything, as what heaven is, and 
how things in the heavens are to be understood, they 
would tell so many lies that a man would be astonished." 
A. The experience which you, as Spiritualists, have 
passed through during the last twenty years should 
answer the question. If that cannot, I am in serious 
doubt as to whether I shall be able to answer it to the 
satisfaction of even one individual soul. To say that 
spirits return always telling what is absolutely true to all, 
would be uttering what is untrue. But to say that they 
return always bearing falsehood, would be equally un- 
true. If death finds a man a liar, it does not change 
him. He enters the spirit-world the same liar. He car- 
ries with him all that belongs to his spiritual nature. He 
leaves nothing behind. Death robs him only of the 
external members through which he manifested. But 
there are many different w r ays of defining a lie. Many 
people decide very unwisely concerning truth and false- 
hood. We are very apt to say that a thing is untrue 
which we know nothing about, which has not been brought 
to our senses so near that we could recognize it as a 
truth. We are very apt to stamp " lie " upon that which 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 245 

seemeth so to be to us. It is a fault of our human 
nature, and one which we can only outgrow by expe- 
rience — by being brought in contact with all the differ- 
ent states of life, and being able to view them all with 
impartial perception. Swedenborg was a very excellent 
seer in his day. He was permitted to behold many 
things that pertain to the spirit-life, but he was by no 
means a perfect seer, for there never was one. He was 
by no means an infallible clairvoyant, for there never was 
one. If there was, or if it could be, then the function 
of seership would cease. Clairvoyance would have 
reached a state of infinite perfection, which I do not 
believe it ever can, or ever will. Since round and round 
the circle of human experience runs, there can be no such 
thing as absolute perfection in any one sphere of life. 
We attain wisdom by discreet degrees, says Swedenborg. 
I believe it. But I also believe that we never can attain 
the highest wisdom. There will always be something 
beyond, a state of beatitude that we have not reached, 
something that we did not know about, something that 
has not been brought to our comprehension. If every 
spirit returned giving precisely the same information with 
reference to facts pertaining to the spirit-world, would 
you be any better off, as Spiritualists? I think not. 
You would say at once, "They always tell us the truth ; 
we can always depend upon them. We need not exer- 
cise our powers of observation. They are always on the 
right side. Let them lead us." Now they come with 
all the imperfection of human life resting upon their 
spirits, and by their acts, by all they say to you, and all 
they do with reference to you, you know that they are 
still human and fallible. What is the result? Why, 
you are kept in constant activity with regard to your 



246 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

spiritual belief. All the powers of your better nature are 
perpetually being taxed to know what is the best way, 
what is the truth. Instead of allowing any other spirit 
or spirits to decide for you, since you cannot place impli- 
cit faith upon them, you fall back upon yourself. You 
measure them by your own ideas of justice. Xou throw 
them into the balances of your own being, and you weigh 
them there, and if they are found wanting, your reason 
decides. Your reason can very easily detect whether or 
no they are wanting in all that makes up a perfect spirit- 
ual being. It would not be well for you, as Spiritual- 
ists or Christians, to be shown the better way at once. 
Life is a struggle, and not only a struggle for the angel- 
world, but a struggle for you who dwell here in time; 
and through these hard struggles you attain knowledge ; 
you become wise for yourselves. You do not gather that 
wisdom which belongs to any other spirit and appropriate 
it to yourselves, but you gather that which belongs to 
you as individuals. You bring out all the powers of 
your inner life, and make them strong by action. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Dec. 8, 1868. 

Q. Is there growth in the spirit-realm, and are the 
processes of assimilation and education the same as we 
find here in this material condition ? And are the chem- 
ical changes at all analogous ? 

A. There is indeed growth in the spirit-world, and 
the various processes through which the spirit passes are 
indeed analogous to those of earth. Each spirit receives 
from all its surroundings, and gives, in turn, to all. 
The process of give and take is by no means entirely of 
earth. It belongs to the spirit. It exists through the 
sphere of mind as of matter. All the various chemical 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 247 

changes through which the body — the physical body — 
passes during its pilgrimage in earth-life, have their 
counterpart in the spirit-world. The chemistry belong- 
ing to earth is divinely and spiritually represented in the 
spirit-world. It is carried far beyond that of which your 
human senses can take cognizance. There is that change 
w r hich is in itself analogous to the change called death. 
There is a gradual waste of spiritual forces, a gradual 
accumulation of newer forces. There is no such . thing 
as rest, in the absolute, anywhere in the universe. 

Q. You closed your invocation with the term 
"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." How are we to un- 
derstand that ? 

A, The term is used simply to convey the idea of the 
past, present, and future — an all-sustaining life that ever 
has been, that is, and ever will be. 

Q. Is the life-principle manifested in the vegetable 
and animal kingdom, and in man, the same in essence? 

A. In essence I believe it to be the same, but marked 
by distinct -degrees through form. The indwelling life, 
the essence, the all-pervading principle that changes the 
forms of matter and changes your thoughts, I believe to 
be the same. 

Q. Does it attain its highest possibilities when it cul- 
minates in man ? 

A. By no means; for man, as such, is only a few 
steps higher than his brethren of the field. We are apt 
to place too high an estimate upon self. 

Q. Are we then to understand that there are races of 
beings in the universe higher than man ? 

A. O, yes ; because there are conditions of mind far 
superior to those with which you come in contact, far 
superior to any that have an existence on this earth, or 



248 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

any other, at the present time. Life is a school, and we 
are all pupils therein. We never abandon the school. 
The master is ever beyond us, ever ready to teach us 
something that we have not yet known ; consequently we 
are ever being drawn out. When we attain one glorious 
height, lo ! there are more beyond us. 

Q. by a clergyman. Are there any beings superior 
to Jesus Christ? . 

A. O, yes, very many. 

Q. by clergyman. What kind of beings are they? 

A. Beings like himself, who have had larger expe- 
rience. It is the experience one gains in the world of 
mind and the world of matter that makes the human and 
divine glory. 

Q. by clergyman. Have these superior beings passed 
through humanity? Have they been men? 

A. Yes, I so believe. 

Q. by clergyman. Jesus Christ was not, then, born 
of the Father, as he declared himself, when he said, "I 
and my Father are one." 

A. O, yes, he was. And you and I may assert the 
same with as much truth ; since we cannot live apart 
from the Father, since we have no existence apart from 
his — the great existence called life — we and that are 
one. It cannot be otherwise. 

Q. by clergyman. Why did he deny that the Jews 
were the children of God? as where he said, "Because 
ye do not the works of God, ye are of your father the 
devil." 

A. And by that statement he showed very clearly 
that he had not attained the highest wisdom ; that he was 
human, as he was divine. For, had he attained the high- 
est wisdom, surely he would have known that the Jew 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 249 

and the Gentile were alike precious in the eyes of the 
great All-Father. 

Q. by clergyman. Who was the more inspired, Moses 
or Christ ? 

A. It would be very hard to determine ; but it is 
not hard to determine concerning the order of inspiration. 
Certainly Moses did not have as high an order of inspira- 
tion as Jesus the Christ. He ranked very far below 
him. 

Q. by clergyman. Then Jesus was not the light of 
the world, if he had human imperfections and follies in 
him ? 

A. O, yes, he was a light of the world, and a very 
great light too. 

Q. by clergyman. Yet you acknowledge he lacked 
wisdom ? 

A. Certainly, he did not possess all wisdom, and yet 
he shed abroad those divine truths that he had gathered 
from all his surroundings, as none had ever done before 
him. And the light of those truths comes down to you 
of to-day ; you fall down and worship them ; and it is 
well. But in worshipping the spirit of truth, the glorious 
truths that were given through Jesus, you are very apt to 
also worship the form, the name. This you should not 
do. We are very apt to do it, because it is very hard 
for us to separate the life from the form. We are more 
apt to worship the Church than to worship the spirit of 
the Church. 

Q. by clergyman. Is death inevitable, or is it the 
consequence of sin? Can it be avoided? 

A. Death comes as the inevitable consequence of 
natural law, not as the result of sin. Science has proven 
that to be true. Ignorance determines otherwise. We 



250 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

are told of a fall, away back in past ages, and, in conse- 
quence of that, came sin and death into the world. But 
as the light of a newer and diviner dispensation dawns 
upon us, we see the folly of such a belief. Science tells 
us that death is the inevitable result of law. Change 
must come to these forms. They cannot exist in their 
present state but a certain length of time ; then they must 
be resolved back again to their primal elements. It is 
not, by any means, the result of the sin of one pair or a 
thousand pairs. 

Q. by clergyman. Is there any such thing as being 
translated, as is recorded of Elijah — that he never tasted 
death? 

A. No ; I do not so understand it. The ignorance 
that surrounded the common people of that day gave rise 
to such a story. The priests, the heads of the Church, 
knew better, even then. 

Q. by clergyman. Then that is a false story? 

A. Absolutely ; falsely rendered in your record. 

Q. by clergyman. Is Jesus risen with that body which 
was nailed to the cross ? or where is that body ? 

A. Gone back to its primal elements ; lived again 
and again in a thousand times ten thousand forms, for 
aught I know ; but never resurrected from the dead, as 
your record affirms. 

Q. by clergyman. Then the apostles were false wit- 
nesses ? 

A. By no means. They so believed because Jesus 
had the power to make himself an objective reality to 
those minds and those human senses. He took upon 
himself material conditions, and was, to all intents and 
purposes, living and acting through the material form. 
They saw it, they felt it; it walked with them and 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 251 

talked with them. But was it the literal body of Jesus? 
0, no. 

Q. by clergyman. Did he not declare unto Thomas 
that "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me 
have"? 

A. Certainly he did — so the record says ; and he 
invited one of his friends to thrust his finger into his 
side. But we do not affirm that this body — this ob- 
jective body — w r as a spirit. O, no ; it w r as a material 
body which he had gathered from the elements, precisely 
as spirits do, under certain conditions, from your media 
to-day. It is being done to-day. Jesus had the same 
power. 

Q. by clergyman. Then the angel that told them, w He 
is not here ; he is risen," told a lie? 

A. No ; he was not there ; he had risen. The body 
was not the man. 

Q. by clergyman. What became of the body ? 

A. We are told that it was taken away by the nearest 
and dearest friends of Jesus. They, like you of to-day, 
loved the body, and were not w T illing it should fall into the 
hands of their enemies. 

Q. by clergyman. Then the Jews .were right in say- 
ing the disciples had stolen the body ? 

A. They were right, certainly. 

Q. by clergyman. Then the apostles were all liars, 
and the Jews were right ? 

A. No, they were not liars ; but the Jews were right. 

Q. by clergyman. But the Jews declared that the dis- 
ciples had stolen the body, and you confirm the same from 
the spirit- world. 

A. Yes, but they w r ere not liars, because they did not 
say the body has risen, but he has risen, meaning Jesus — 



252 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the spirit, not the body. Nowhere in your record can 
you find anything that will determine concerning the 
resurrection of the body. The disciples did not say, 
w We have not stolen the body of Jesus ; " they simply 
said, "He is not here ; he has risen." So he had. 

Q. by clergyman. But it was the Jesus that was laid 
in the tomb that was meant ; of course we all understand 
that it was the very same body that was nailed to the 
cross. 

A. O, yes, you understand it so, because you are apt 
to deal more with the body than with the spirit. Was 
the man the body? You will say yes. I say no. It 
was the thinking spirit, not the body. What had Jesus 
to do with the dead body? Nothing at all. So the dis- 
ciples declared that the living spirit had risen ; they said 
nothing about the body. 

Q. by clergyman. But these declarations don't hang 
together. Either all Christianity is a humbug, or these 
declarations are false. 

A. So far as the Christian Church understands Christ 
there is very much of error mixed up with their under- 
standing of him, because they have worshipped the body ; 
they have talked of the body ; they have prayed to the 
body. That has been their ideal. I was a believer in 
the literal resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ before 
my death. But I know better now. The whole Christian 
world has indeed been imposed upon, but by its own 
ignorance — by nothing else. 

Q. by clergyman. But what assurance have we that 
we are not imposed upon here ? 

A. None whatever — nothing that you can absolutely 
rely upon. 

Q. by clergyman. Then we may declare that we are 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 253 

now imposed upon, as well as the Christian world has 
been? 

A. Certainly, you have the right so to do. It is in- 
cumbent upon you all to weigh and measure everything 
by your own senses. Never believe a Paul, or a Moses, 
or a Jesus because they are such. Do not believe me 
because I declare myself to be a departed spirit returned 
here to communicate with you. But believe whatever 
seems to be true to you, and ignore all the rest. 

Q. by clergyman. But what is the good of having 
communications from departed spirits, if we cannot de- 
pend upon them ? If we must take their instructions on 
our own judgment, I don ? t see any use in them. 

A. So you may say with regard to all kinds of in- 
struction, whether through the Church or the spirit- 
world. 

Q. by clergyman. There is a great difference. We 
give authority for ours. 

A, Ah, you have a very poor understanding concern- 
ing those of the spirit-world. You, like thousands of 
others, have placed the seal of divine authority where 
that of humanity alone belongs. When you shall learn 
that the spirit after death is human, as before, then you 
will cease to expect so much of them. They are fallible, 
like ourselves. It is only their opinions and the experi- 
ence they have gained in the spirit-world that they bring 
you. Nothing more. 

Q. by clergyman. Does a spirit come by divine au- 
thority to teach us this ? 

A. All things that are taught at all are taught by 
divine authority. 

Q. by clergyman. I don't believe it. 

A. You have the right to disbelieve. 



254 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. by clergyman. Lies are not of divine authority. 

A. Since I believe in one God overruling all things 
for good, of course I recognize the divine authority run- 
ning through all. Therefore, to me all teaching is of 
divine authority. It may not be so to you. 

Q. by clergyman. Are the most infernal lies by di- 
vine authority? 

A. All that do not agree with our best judgment" are 
lies to us. It matters not what they are to anybody else. 
That which we cannot conceive to be true is not so to us. 
The Jews believed Christ to be a liar. Not so with the 
Christian world. But were not the Jews honest? Surely 
they were. 

Q. by clergyman. Then there is no such thing as ab- 
solute truth? 

A. No, there is no such thing as absolute truth. Rest 
assured of that. 

Q. by clergyman. Then I say you are of the devil ; 
for God is absolute truth. 

A. But since we cannot measure God, we cannot 
bring that absolute truth down to our comprehension and 
make use of it. Therefore, we have no absolute truth, 
because, if we had, we should have all of God, which we 
have not. 

Our time has expired. We must leave you to your 
own opinions, trusting you will in time grow out of the 
darkness around you as an individual. You have the 
right to your opinion, as we to ours. We are all march- 
ing towards the same great light of truth. We are all 
under the benediction of the same great Father. It mat- 
ters not what we believe. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 255 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 10, 1868. 

Q. Cannot a person standing by the side of another 
benefit him spiritually ? 

A.. Certainly. I believe that the mission of Christ 
on earth was not alone for diseased bodies, though he 
healed the sick and restored to the blind their sight. He 
did many so-called wonders in the material line, but he 
did many more in the spiritual line. He was capable of 
healing the spirit, of restoring it to the normal or happy , 
state ; and what is true of him is equally true of every 
other healing medium. 

Q. Jesus said, f? Lo, for eighteen years has Satan 
bound this woman." Are all diseases the bindings of 
Satan ? 

A.. Yes, you may as well call them that as anything 
else. The bindings of ignorance, or of the lesser good, 
may as well be called Satan, or Lucifer. Whatever 
name you give it, it is still ignorance. It is still the lesser 
good. 

Q. Swedenborg tsays that all disease is communicated 
by evil spirits. Is he right? 

A. He is right, only he is misunderstood. Disease 
is spirit, and because it makes you unhappy it is evil. 
Therefore it is the action of an evil spirit. The potato 
rots in the ground. It is acted upon by an evil spirit. 
This evil spirit runs through all the vegetable creation, 
through the mineral, the animal, the spiritual. But it 
has ever been, and is to the present day, largely misun- 
derstood. Of course, you are aware of that. 



256 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Dec. 17, 1868. 

Q. Is the Deity a being, or is he a principle pervad- 
ing all Nature ? If the latter, why do you address him 
as a being, in the invocation? 

A. That our God is a personal, and also an imper- 
sonal God, is equally true. Since the God-power or 
God-life is everywhere, he, it, or she is of course person- 
ified everywhere. I believe in the worship of all that is 
worthy of worship. If it is the flower, let us worship 
there. If it is the human soul, let us worship there. If 
it is a lofty thought, let us worship there. Wherever we 
see anything, or perceive any state, either of mind or 
matter, that is worthy of worship, there we should wor- 
ship. All Spiritualists, I believe, consider God to be an 
infinite principle pervading all forms, occupying all space. 
I believe this. I have seen nothing during my life in the 
spirit-world to cause me to believe otherwise. I did not 
believe it when here. But the Book of Life hath been 
so widely opened to me since death, that I can come to 
no other conclusion than that God is a principle pervad- 
ing all forms, and occupying all space. God is in the 
atmosphere, and is the atmosphere. God is in the sun- 
light, and is the sunlight. God is the sun and the 
shadow. He is everything, and is in all places. \It is 
absolutely useless to endeavor to confine God to any par- 
ticular place or state of being, for could we do that, we 
should rob God of the God-power. We should at once 
chain this great eternal principle, this infinite life, to 
finite space. We should at once bring it down within 
the scope of human analysis. And I, for one, am glnd we 
cannot. But we have been so in the habit of addressing 
this Deity, this Power of Life, as though it were a man 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 257 

or woman, a personality like ourselves, that it is very 
hard to change our course ; and indeed it would not be 
well for us so to do, because, as I before remarked, our 
God is a personal God, and therefore it is proper that we 
should thus address him. 

By William E. Channing, Dec. 21, 1868c 

Q. Will there not soon be more distinct communion 
between the spirit-life and the earth-life ? 

A. If your correspondent means to ask if there will 
not be very soon a more general and direct communica- 
tion between this life and that which is to come, I shall 
answer, just so fast as you are fit to receive communica- 
tions of an emphatic kind from the spirit- world, you will 
receive them. You seem to suppose that that world is 
situated far from you, when it is really in your midst, 
and the communications coming therefrom are as closely 
allied to your own souls as they can by any possibility be. 
Every soul seeks for light from the spirit-world, for new 
revealments concerning this modern faith ; is constantly 
expecting something greater, something more clearly de- 
fined, something that shall answer the call of human na- 
ture more definitely, something that shall appeal emphat- 
ically to the senses. This is well. And will their ex- 
pectations be realized? I think they will. The spirit- 
world is constantly making great efforts in your behalf. 
Societies are being formed all over our spirit-world for 
your good, for the good of all those minds that are 
bounded about by clods of clay. One set of minds can 
be reached in one way, and another set in another way ; 
one demand the alphabet of the science of life ; another 
group demands something higher, and so on. All are 
calling for certain degrees of these spirit-re vealments. 
17 



258 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Every soul will be answered, I believe, in due sea- 
son. 

Q. If Spiritualism were proved false, what effect 
would it have upon the history of the Bible ? 

A.* To my mind it would have a very serious effect, 
because by and through the life of Spiritualism — ancient 
Spiritualism - — the Bible has its existence. It lives 
through that, if it lives at all. So to prove that Spiritu- 
alism were false, would be to prove that all the circum- 
stances recorded in the Bible were equally false ; for they 
every one of them stand upon the spiritual platform and 
exist by spiritual life, if they exist at all. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 22, 1868. 

Q. Why cannot mediums give full names as well as 
parts of a name? 

jl. There are various reasons why this cannot always 
be successfully done. In the first place there are very 
few mediums through which the full tide of spiritual, 
personal information, or inspiration — call it by what 
term you please — can be received. Mark me : there are 
very few through which the full tide — it may come in 
ripples, it may bubble upon the shore and break — but 
the full wave can come only through a very few, com- 
pared with the great whole. Now suppose, for instance, 
I were writing a communication through the hand of a 
medium. I may have what I call magnetic control ; that 
is to say, I may have been successful in cutting off the 
electric and magnetic current running through the arm 
and thence to the brain, thus conveying impressions. So 
I might have a hand and arm to use as I would a pencil. 
Well, what then? Why, the medium is looking on, sees 
what is written, and knows, nine times out of ten, when 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 259 

the power is diminishing, because of the tremor that 
passes through the arm. The outside spirit is losing 
control, and the indwelling spirit is resuming control. 
The medium can tell that, and so he says, "This mes- 
sage is almost finished. Now, I wonder what name will 
be attached to this." There comes the obstacle which 
interferes very much with the giving of the name. The 
positive brain is exercised, consequently it cannot be 
given. When mediums learn the philosophy of this they 
will do differently. They will see to it that their wills 
are abstracted from the work of the spirit. If they do 
this, it will be very much easier for the spirit to finish up 
what it began. It is hard to give a name, because, at 
that point, the spirit of the medium becomes positive. 
The forces of the spirit have grown less. They have 
about exhausted their power with the medium, and just 
as they are going to finish up and sign their name, as I 
before remarked, the positive power of the medium comes 
in and interferes ; so you don't get your name. Now, do 
not say there is some fraud because we have got no name. 
Rather say, It is something we do not understand. Let 
us look into it, analyze it, weigh and measure it, bring all 
the powers we have at command to ferret out the cause 
of this deficient communication. If you took half as 
much pains to do this as to find fault, it would be very 
much better for you and for us. Pardon me; I am a 
plain-spoken individual, used to telling the truth in very 
plain terms. 

Q. How is it that some spirits can control so soon 
after they leave the form ? 

A. Some spirits happen to be very fortunate in hav- 
ing spirit-friends who know how to return, who under- 
stand the modus operandi. Consequently they bring 



260 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

their friends to some media, who, they know, will assimi- 
late with their magnetic life. What is the result? Why, 
they are forced right back through mediumistic life, 
whether they will or no. [Forced, you say?] Yes, 
that is the word I intended to use. 

Q. I asked because it has seemed to me as if some 
spirits were forced into possession of this medium. 

A. They are absolutely forced. They come within 
the magnetic attracting power of the media, and it abso- 
lutely forces them to come into bodily control, and then 
they may as well speak as do anything else. It is easier 
to speak than not to. 

Q. Some who have passed from this life return and 
tell us that they have no remembrance of any other exist- 
ence previous to that commenced on this earth. If, as 
has lately been maintained on this platform, " the soul 
ever has been, is, and ever will be" in what respect does 
this lack of continuity of memory differ, as regards the 
individual's identity, from total annihilation? Of what 
avail is it to the thinking part we call I, if the essence of 
man is immortal, if that essence is not eternally con- 
nected with his individual being? and how can this be 
otherwise done than through the memory? 

A. Memory is subject to the call of external cir- 
cumstances. Now, always remember that. Memory is 
subject to the call of external circumstances, and may 
slumber in some of her parts for thousands of years if ex- 
ternal circumstances do not resurrect her. Do not forget 
that, for you will have need to use that simple knowledge, 
all of you, by and by. Some spirits are fortunate, but 
very few are, in being resurrected in memory, concerning 
a past existence, by external circumstances. A Pythag- 
oras would tell you, did he speak with you, that he re- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 261 

members three distinct earthly lives. Mark me : three 
distinct earthly lives he remembers clearly. Not all 
their circumstances, to be sure, but enough to show that 
they are three distinct earthly lives. He has been for- 
tunate in having external circumstances to call up, to 
resurrect this past memory, that belongs to the past, that 
slumbers with thousands of souls, because there is no 
morning peal of the present, no chime that might call up 
the past. Now, let me illustrate, to make my position 
more simple. Suppose, for instance, a friend of your 
childhood might come into this room, either a disembodied 
spirit, or one in the body, and should address you by 
name. You look into his face and say, "I do not know 
you." "You do not?*' "No." "Do you remember," 
he says, "such a person that you used to play with in 
your boyhood days, who lived in such a place, occupied 
such a position in life?" You think a minute. The ex- 
ternal words of the man are called up to your memory 
from the past. You say, "O, yes, I remember it: O, 
yes, now I know you;" and you go over and over your 
boyhood days with him. All the green fields are present 
in your memory ; all your little boyish acts are called up 
and lived over again. You know the man for an absolute 
certainty. It is precisely the same with regard to a past 
existence. Thousands and tens of thousands of souls are 
waiting for some resurrecting circumstance, that they may 
remember, that they may see, that they may live again, 
in thought, in the past, and know that they have lived 
there. Do you understand? [Yes.] 

By Theodore Parker, Dee. 28, 1868. 

Q. Is Spiritualism, as a religion, to supplant Chris- 
tianity ? 



262 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. Spiritualism, as a religion, I believe, is to sup- 
plant Christianity. The era of the Christian religion is 
passing away, changing. It will lose nothing of its life, 
nothing of that that the world of mind has need of; but 
it will part with its dross, and become absorbed in the 
newer and more perfect. 

Q. Have you ever seen a person, while inhabiting the 
body, in spirit-life? 

A. Yes, very many times ; times without number. 

Q. Are there any spirits of the present day that have 
seen Christ? 

A. Yes ; I have seen him myself. 

Q. What is his mission in the world? 

A. A mission of love, as it was when here ; a moral 
teacher. 

Q. Does he profess to be one with God? 

A. Yes ; he professes to be one with God, but as I 
profess to be one with God ; in no different sense. Not 
according to the Christian idea of his oneness with God. 
O, no, by no means. 

Q. Does this same Christ visit the earth as other spirits 
do, for the purpose of inaugurating this new dispensation ! 

A. Yes ; he is in the work, and he does visit the earth. 

Q. Has he visited Boston, to your knowledge? 

A. Yes ; many thousand times. 

Q. Will you not invite him to speak to us here at 
this circle? 

A. No ; certainly not. He needs no invitation. He 
comes unbidden, and partakes of the feast of wisdom 
prepared by every individual soul ; does not need any 
special invitation to be your guest. 

Q. Does the spirit, while inhabiting the physical 
body, ever manifest like one that has laid off the form? 



FROM TEE SPIRIT-LAND. 263 

A. Yes ; that is quite a common occurrence. 

Q. Then we are living in both worlds? 

A. You are. The senses of the body take cogni- 
zance of the things of this world, the objective and mate- 
rial life. The senses of the spirit take cognizance of 
both worlds, live in the inner life, and understand what 
is being done in the external life. 



J o 



By Theodore Parker, Dec. 29, 1868. 

Q. Is the individualized human spirit a result of act- 
ing natural and spiritual forces incident to the human 
physical form, and in and through the same elaborated, 
unitized, affinitized, and perfected to an individual con- 
scious existence, beyond the reach of decomposition and 
decay? or is the human physical form a result of a pre- 
existent spirit entity which descends into the germ of 
being, allying itself with earliest infancy or life, and 
which unfolds and develops its stature to maturity, lin- 
gers with it till death, then returns to the God who 
gave it ? 

A. I believe that the spirit claims a life anterior to 
the body.. I do not believe that the spirit is an outgrowth 
of the body. On the contrary, I believe that the body is 
an outgrowth of the spirit. The spirit is distinct, and 
comes up through an infinite number of degrees of ma- 
terial life. It passes through the different degrees, and 
manifests itself according to the degree in which it lives. 

C5 O 

Human life manifests as human life, vegetable life as 
vegetable life, mineral life as mineral life, and so on 
through an almost infinite number of degrees. I believe 
it is one great spirit, after all, one infinite ocean of life, 
acting through all forms, and manifesting according to 
the nature of the form in which it exists. 



264 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. It is your opinion that the spirit has power to 
choose the form through which it shall manifest? 

A. I do not so think. Indeed, all past experiences 
prove to the contrary. 

Q. Then there is a law still surrounding the spirit 
which causes it to take the form through which it mani- 
fests ? 

A. The spirit, as a whole, is a law unto itself. But 
each one of the individualized particles composing the 
Great Spirit, is amenable to the law of all the rest. It 
can go so far, but no farther. 

Q. Will each individual soul come to a knowledge of 
a prior existence, as did Pythagoras? 

A. There are thousands, ay, millions of souls in the 
spirit-world who have no knowledge of having had an ex- 
istence prior to the one they passed through in earthly 
life. These seem to be the rule, but there seem to be 
very many exceptions to the rule. I am not prepared to 
say, for I have formed no definite opinion upon the sub- 
ject, whether all souls wull finally become possessed of 
this knowledge or remembrance of a former life. I be- 
lieve, ay, I know, that there are circumstances which, if 
they act upon the soul, will, call up that memory; but 
whether they will ever act or no, I cannot say. 

Q. I learn by experience that a certain class of spirits 
return and communicate often directly after they have 
left the form, but soon cease to come, and do not again 
manifest their presence for months or years. Please ex- 
plain why this is so. 

A. In all probability they are so far absorbed in the 
scenes of their new life that they have not a sufficient 
desire to return to enable them to overcome the obstacles 
in the way. There must be a straightforward, positive 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 265 

will on the part of the returning spirit who would be suc- 
cessful. 

Q. How do spirits employ their time in the spirit-world ? 

A. There are an infinite number of ways by which 
the spirits employ their time, or are occupied in the spirit- 
world. They who are artists, because they have a love 
in that direction, employ their time in that way. The 
mechanic — for we have mechanics in the spirit-world — 
who is such from the love of it, pursues the same avoca- 
tion in the spirit- world. Each one pursues the course 
that is best adapted to him, but none are forced into the 
pursuance of any course. There is no compulsion in 
these things in the spirit-world. Each one acts in ac- 
cordance with his wishes. There is no poverty to interfere 
here. There are no railroads demanding a fee for trans- 
portation ; there are no hotels charging exorbitant prices ; 
no dealers to fee ; nothing of the sort ; but each one 
pursues the avocation which he is best adapted to, and 
for the love of it. There are no drones in the spirit- 
world. All are active. 

Q. How do mechanics exercise their powers ? Have 
they building material with which to work? 

A. You forget that these buildings which you in- 
habit are in the spirit-world, every one of them. They 
have an inner as well as an external life. Every one of 
these works of art has a soul, and the external appear- 
ance of that soul has need of an external architect — 
somebody to fashion it, somebody to take care of it, some- 
body to embellish it. Can you do it? No. You can 
perform that part which belongs to material life, but no 
more. You overlook the soul of things in your march 
through the body. It is quite natural ; I did the same 
while here. 



266 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Theodore Parker, Jan. 4, 1869. 

Chairman. A week ago last Wednesday I left here, 
at three o'clock P. M., to visit a child who was very sick 
in Newark, N. J., and arrived there at one o'clock the 
next morning. My wife, who was here at home, said that 
at three o'clock of the same morning she saw me at her 
bedside so distinctly that she spoke to me, asking, fr How 
is it that you are here ? I thought you were in New Jer- 
sey." I was at that time standing by the bedside of the 
child in Newark. I would like to ask if it was my spirit 
proper, or whether it was my thought of her that took 
this visible shape. 

A. You seem to forget that your thought is, in fact, 
your spirit — nothing more, nothing less. And you also 
seem to forget that the spirit has power to overcome time 
and space. It occupies no sensible time — not according 
to human senses — in passing from one point to another. 
It can travel faster than light. It is here, and instautly 
it is there. A spirit dwelling in the body obeys, to a 
certain extent, the physical laws pertaining to the body, 
and, to a very large extent, it is free even then. It goes 
whithersoever it will. It traverses the universe and other 
universes. It holds communion with the inhabitants of 
the most distant star, and as perfectly, as a spirit, as it 
can hold communion with its fellows here. Now, then, 
this being true, it would not be at all strange — nothing 
out of the natural course — to suppose that your spirit did 
indeed visit your earthly home, and in such a tangible 
way as to be recognized by the senses of your compan- 
ion. I say it would not be strange, and, from your state- 
ment, I am inclined to think that this is the case. Had 
I been present, I should have known to a positive certain- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 267 

ty. As it is, I can only form an opinion from what I 
have known of other similar cases. 

Chairman. My wife said that she was, at the time, 
perfectly wide awake, and recognized me just as clearly 
as she ever did in her life. I remember of thinking of 
her several times, but had no idea of reaching her in any 
tangible way. 

A. I have been informed that you are specially gifted 
in this respect — that you have the gift of retiring from 
the body, leaving that in one locality, and making yourself 
spiritually apparent, thoroughly recognized, at another 
place. 

Chairman. This is not the only instance of the kind. 
My spirit has been recognized by others in distant places, 
but I never knew it to come so near home before. 

Q. Are we to understand that the spirit is absent from 
the body while at some distant place, or that there is 
a double consciousness — the same spirit occupying two 
places at the same time ? 

A. All spirits have the power to project themselves into 
external life, and become recognized by the external con- 
sciousness, to a certain extent. You are indeed possessed, 
under all circumstances, of a double consciousness — that 
which is present with the external form, and that which is 
absent by virtue of the action of the distant law. For in- 
stance, you may have a friend in London, while you in 
physical form are in Boston. You think of the friend in 
London. He thinks of you at the same time. There is a 
direct vehicle over which the spirit passes, communicates, 
but at the same time it is conscious within the physical life 
in Boston. There is a consciousness which belongs espe- 
cially to the physical human life, is governed by that life — 
can express itself in no other way than through that life. 



268 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Then there is a consciousness that belongs to the spirit- 
body, and it can express itself at any distant point, 
wherever it chooses, however far distant from the physi- 
cal body, at any time when the attraction is sufficient to 
cause it to leave the body. These indwelling spirits elude 
human senses. The scalpel cannot detect the spirit. 
It is beyond it. It cannot be weighed and measured by 
your human senses, and yet it acts upon those human 
senses as best pleases itself. iWe have always told you 
that you were living, here in this world, three distinct 
lives — the life which belongs to the animal world, that 
which belongs to the spiritual world, and that which be- 
longs to the higher, the soul or divine life — three in one. 
There is a great truth underlying the doctrine of the 
trinity which is yet to be revealed. I 

Q. Does any change of temperature occur in the 
spirit- world ? 

A. Yes, there is an infinite number of degrees of 
change — all the various gradations that are necessary to 
spirit-life. 

Q. Extreme cold and extreme heat, with all the gra- 
dations ? 

A. Not such cold or heat as you experience here, but 
that which is equivalent to it. 

Q. Are those living there made uncomfortable by 
these changes? 

A. No, not necessarily, because the spirit has the 
power more perfectly than here to adapt itself to condi- 
tions. The law of adaptation is better understood there 
than here. If you understood it here, the fire would not 
burn you, the water would not drown you ; when the air 
was at a very low temperature it would not freeze you. 

Q. Do you mean to say that if we understood the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 269 

law we could resist these changes with our physical 
bodies? 

A. Yes, I do mean that you shall understand me 
precisely thus, 

Q. Will that knowledge ever be possessed by men on 
earth ? 

A. I think not. At all events, it is so far in the 
future, if it ever comes, that it would be folly to hope 
for it. 

By Theodore Parker, Jan. 7, 1868. 

Q. How are the blood letters placed upon the arm of 
the medium ? and how are communications written in a 
room without any one being present ? 

A. The phenomenon of writing upon the arm and 
other parts of the human body by processes which of 
course are unseen by and unknown to you, is in itself 
exceedingly simple. The communicating spirits have but 
to draw an almost imperceptible point of electricity to- 
wards the part that they desire to affect in that way, and 
at the same time to use this point of electricity as one 
would use a pencil. The little child can perform the 
operation as well as an adult can. It is one of the sim- 
ple things belonging to Nature. 

You ask how communications can be written when 
there is no one present. Well, that could not be. There 
is some one present, although that some one is invisible 
to mortal eyes. Spirits have hands, and can use them, 
and the atmosphere contains all that is necessary to the 
formation of all things which you have here in use on the 
earth, and thousands and tens of thousands that you have 
not here — that you know nothing about. Therefore, 
si -ye« have what is equivalent to a pencil, or pen and ink. 



270 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Everything, from the mineral kingdom up to the high- 
est spiritual, can be formed out of the atmosphere you 
breathe. It is the great repository of the life of this 
planet. It contains your gold, your silver, your precious 
stones. It contains all the elements of every form that is 
brought before your notice ; every form that takes an ob- 
jective life, the power is in the atmosphere with which to 
create it. You should remember this, and instead of 
talking about the atmosphere being a void, talk of it as 
being a great repository of lifei — all kinds of life. 

Q. Will those formations made by spirits out of the 
atmosphere retain their form permanently ? 

A. O, no, not at all. That must come by and through 
a process natural to the planet, not by art. All these 
spirit-forms, from the form of the flower to the form of 
the human body, are works of art, and therefore perish- 
able. 

Q. Why is darkness necessary? 

JL. Because darkness is" more negative than light. 
Light is positive, therefore overcomes, eats up the condi- 
tions requisite to these manifestations. Why don't you 
see the lightning as well in the glare of the sunlight as 
you do after the sun has gone down? 

Q. Will the time ever arrive when these things will 
be done in the light ? 

A.. Yes ; when the spirit-world, or those spirits who 
are engaged in making these manifestations, are more ac- 

© © O 7 

quainted with the laws that are in activity in the positive 
force, when they become better acquainted with them, and 
can master them, these manifestations can be performed in 
the light ; but at present they cannot. 

Q. On a certain occasion at a spiritual circle an oys- 
ter supper w r as furnished to the guests by the spirits. I 



FRO 31 THE SPIRIT-LAND. 271 

would like to ask whether the oysters were made by the 
power of the spirits. 

A. I was not present on that occasion, and therefore 
could not say. I presume they had the power to furnish 
the oysters from your mundane sphere precisely as they 
have the power to furnish you flowers. They bring their 
mediums flowers, and various things. If they can do 
that, they can bring them oysters as well. 

Q. Then the eighth commandment has no power in 
the spirit-world? 

A. The eighth commandment has no power in the 
spirit-world. It is a nonentity. Every spirit there has the 
right to whatever it has need of. You may be very sure 
you will never be taken up for stealing in the spirit- world. 

Q. The flow r ers, then, are not formed from the atmos- 
phere, but are taken from some neighbor's garden, and 
belong to the owner of the garden ? 

A. They have the power to form them out of the at- 
mosphere. But such flowers soon fade away ; that is to 
say, they are absorbed again by the atmosphere, perhaps 
while you are looking at them ; but those that are a nat- 
ural outgrowth of the earth of course render obedience 
to the law of the earth. You pluck them from the parent 
stalk, and they live a certain time, and then droop and 
fade away. Yes, they do take them from the gardens of 
their neighbors. 

Q. How are spirit-shapes made apparent to our nat- 
ural senses? 

A. As I before said, the necessary power is taken 
from the atmosphere, and carried to the medium, and con- 
densed or rendered objective there, and of course when 
it is once objective, it is apparent to your physical senses. 
You can use it, you can handle it. It is, to all intents 



272 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

and purposes, an objective form. It is a chemical process. 
There are many chemists in the spirit- world. 

Q. Then the form is not their own? 

A. No, not absolutely. In one sense it is, and in 
another it is not. It is not their spirit-form, for that 
you could not see, but it is a clothing for that form, that 
they have gathered from the atmosphere. 

By John Pierpont, Jan. 12 ? 1869. 

Q. We frequently hear persons express a desire to 
rest for a long period of time upon entering the spirit- 
world. Does this result from absolute weariness of their 
earth-life ? 

A. All the experiences of your earth-life cast their 
shadow upon the spirit. It matters not what they are, 
whether they are those of joy or of sorrow, of weariness 
or the opposite ; and a certain amount of time is required 
for the spirit to outlive it, pass beyond the shadows that 
are attached to it in consequence of its earth-life. There 
is a mantle of remorse, an uncomfortable atmosphere sur- 
rounding the drunkard, surrounding the miser, surround- 
ing all those persons that have not made the very best use 
of their time here. There is also an uncomfortable at- 
mosphere surrounding those that have been encumbered 
with unhealthy physical bodies. The atmosphere is op- 
pressive. It rests upon the spirit like a heavy weight, 
and as the spirit during such an experience in earth-life 
has been in conflict, in hard conflict, with those rude ex- 
periences, rest, quiet, a condition wherein it can recuper- 
ate its wasted forces, is absolutely necessary in spirit-life. 
I know it was so with me, and I am sure it is equally 
true of all others. 

Q. Is that rest of Jong duration ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 273 

A. The period of the time consumed in that way 
depends upon the necessity. If there is need for a long 
rest, you may be sure that the need will be supplied ; the 
long rest will come. 

Q. Does this intense desire for rest induce this state 
of absolute repose? 

A. Yes ; for none will desire this rest unless they 
have need of it. The desire is child of the need. 

Q. Are they conscious of any lapse of time during 
that rest? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Are we, then, to understand that there is time 
there ? 

A. Not the time that is understood here with you, 
but a lapse of conditions, experiences, periods. Of 
course we do not reckon time by the revolution of the 
planets, as you do, or by the passing of day and night. 
It is not divided into years, months, weeks, days, hours, 
minutes, &c. 

Q. Still it is capable of measurement? 

A. O, yes. 

Q. Do not spirits understand our time here? Can 
they not reckon it as well as we do ? =u. 

A. Certainly they do. It is called the earth time. 

By Theodore Parker, Jan. 14, 1869. 

Q. Can spirits injure each other by striking and 
wounding? 

A. O, yes ; but not with physical force, for the physi- 
cal body it parts with at death. But there is a force far 
more potent than that which belongs exclusively to this 
earth. 

Q. Are spirits subject to bodily accidents ? 
18 



274 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. Yes, they are ; but not in the same degree that 
they are when here inhabiting these physical forms. 
There are no physical accidents, no physical pain, but 
whatever tends to render the spirit unhappy mars its 
spirit-body, and produces a stain upon its external gar- 
ments. 

Q. Some* spirits, it is said, after the lapse of years 
in spirit-life, still insist that they are in earth-life. What 
can be the cause? 

A. They insist that they are, simply because they 
are here. Your friend having passed through death, he 
does not of necessity pass out of the earth's atmosphere, 
or away even from the earthly dwelling, the congenial 
ties that bound him to friends here. It is unwise to de- 
termine that your spirit-friends are absent from you be- 
cause your external senses cannot take cognizance of 
them. 

Q* Is it true that the superior races of humanity have 
developed from the gorilla tribe ? 

A. It is true, an absolute fact, well attested in Na- 
ture. We are very apt to turn a cold shoulder on our 
inferior relatives as we rise in the scale of human life. It 
is not at all unnatural thus to assume a superiority which 
does not belong to us. 

Q. Will individuals of the gorilla tribe, now on the 
earth, develop in the spirit- world ? 

A. They will develop through natural and spiritual 
processes. Spirit and matter are inseparable. Spirit 
always rises through matter, or develops, as you under- 
stand it, through matter, and at the same time develops 
matter. Spirit is always dependent upon matter for ex- 
pression, and the kind of expression depends upon the 
kind of organic matter through which the spirit expresses. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 21b 

The gorilla, as such, cannot be the finely developed Anglo- 
Saxon, yet the same spirit runs through both. 

Q. How far down through animal life does this re- 
lationship of ours extend? 

A, Farther than you or I could by any possibility 
reach. We are not only allied, related, and intimately, 
too, to the animal creation, but we are to the vegetable 
and the mineral. And the best and most absolute proof 
of this we find in the blood circulating in the veins and 
arteries of the human system. There we find represented 
all the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, each 
positive and distinct. That the human species have come 
up through all these lower strata of life there is no deny- 
ing, for it is absolute. 

Q. You mean to say there are no discreet degrees, no 
well-marked lines of distinction ? 

A.. Contrary to the Swedenborgian idea, there is to 
me no discreet degree between the human life and the 
life of the rose, save that which we see in the external. 



We are just as much related to the rose as to each other. 
As I before remarked, the blood circulating in our veins 
and arteries determines that — shows us there what will 
make the rose. How came we to have^.it if we were not 
related to the rose ? If there were these discreet degrees 
in physical life, how is it that we are microcosms of all 
that is beneath us, standing as the crowning point of the 
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms? This is a 
question that science w T ill answer for us, and most em- 
phatically, too. 

By Theodore Parker, April 29, 1869. 

Controlling Spirit. As we are in the constant receipt 
of inquiries from friends at a distance — questions pro- 



276 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

pounded to the controlling spirit of the seance — it may 
not be amiss to make a few plain statements with regard 
to the case in question. In the first place, it should be 
understood that these seances are not controlled at all 
times by the same spirit, but for each occasion an intelli- 
gence is selected best adapted to that occasion. Persons 
sending their inquiries from a distance do not seem to 
understand this, and they often inquire in regard to the 
difference of opinion that seems to find expression through 
the said controlling spirit of the circle. It should be 
understood that each distinct intelligence, or human spirit, 
retains its own special intellectual integrity after death as 
before. All are entitled to their own opinions and the 
expression of the same, if they express themselves at all. 
All questions relating to well-developed scientific facts 
will, without doubt, be answered, by all intelligences com- 
ing here, in a similar manner. The idea will be one and 
the same, though the expression or clothing of the idea 
may be different in all. But with regard to all questions 
of theology, you must expect that each spirit will pre- 
serve his or her own opinions, and if questioned will give 
them according to their best ability so to do. Theology 
is but a vagary at best. It is founded upon speculation. 
It lives by speculation. It cannot by any possibility be 
demonstrated by science. As theology it has no part 
with science. Science and it have never been married, 
and never will be, because theology, as understood in 
human life, is thoroughly at variance with science; there- 
fore all questions propounded with regard to theology, of 
whatever caste or color, will be answered by the spirit 
controlling on the occasion as he understands it. The 
Catholic answers in his own way, the Protestant in his, 
the Mahometan in his — each in accordance with the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 211 

theological light they have received. You make a very 
great mistake, oftentimes, in supposing the departed spirit 
to be possessed of an almost infinite amount of knowledge 
regarding all subjects. You forget that they are still hu- 
man, bounded about by the conditions of human life. 
They are not infinite. They are finite still. And though 
their clairvoyance is largely unfolded in spirit-life, yet it 
does not extend to infinity. It only reaches a very small 
degree into the future. It does not perceive all the past, 
neither does it all the future. It can take cognizance of 
events as they come within its sphere of action, but no 
farther. Now, thea, consider the friends who come to 
you from the other life as human, fallible, and entitled, 
each one, to their own opinions. You gave them that 
liberty while they were in the mortal form, and if you are 
wise and just you will give them no less now. 

Q. What is the medium of exchange in the spirit- 
world ? or what is used there as our money is here ? 

A. Merit ; that which belongs to the inner life. What- 
ever you merit you will have. There is no special medium 
of exchange that is equivalent to gold, silver, and green- 
backs, in our life. You may be very sure of that. But 
there is a medium of exchange. If I have what I do not 
need, and my neighbor has need of it, I pass it to him. 
If he has what he does not need, and what I need, he 
passes it to me. There is a perpetual interchange of the 
good things of spirit-life. None can retain any more 
than they have need of. A very hard place for misers to 
come to, particularly before they get rid of their miserly 
propensities, I assure you. So if you have any such, 
better get rid of them here. 



278 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Rev. Joseph Lowenthall, May 4, 1869. 

Q. What is the cause of those ways of feeling that 
sometimes sweep over the soul, w r hich can only find their 
appropriate expression in prayer — those intense, often 
unutterable desires for greater light, holiness, purity, 
closer communion, and more perfect assimilation with the 
spirit of all goodness? In other words, what is the spirit 
that prompts us to prayer ? . 

A.. I believe that we are acted upon constantly by the 
great infinite spirit of Nature, and when we feel in our 
souls that rising up, that spirit of prayer w r hich would 
cause us to leave our darkness and enter light, then it is, 
I believe, that the spirit of infinite goodness sheds holy 
dews upon us. We rise by temptation. We are tempted 
to leave the past perpetually. The soul feels that there 
is a better state of existence, and that it is an heir to that 
better state. It reaches out clairvoyantly and perceives 
the future, and being dissatisfied with the present because 
of the future, it holds up its hands in prayer to the great 
infinite spirit, and thus comes nearer to that spirit, comes 
into rapport with the higher good, leaves its present state 
of mentality, and rises, for the time being at least, to a 
higher state. It is, as one writer hath said, w the key to 
heaven." Another hath said, "Prayer is the wings of the 
angels." And another hath said, w It is the voice of God 
speaking to human hearts," and I believe it is. 

Q. When we thus pray, do we receive the things for 
which we ask? And may our friends be blessed with 
these same promptings and desires in answer to our 
prayers ? 

A. It is a self-evident fact that we do not always 
receive the things for which we pray, but it is a self-evi- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 279 

dent fact, also, that we are made better by prayer. No 
one can ever give birth to a high and holy aspiration — 
which is prayer, to me — but is made better for it. They 
rise in the scale of mind. They shed something of their 
darkness, and take on something of light. 

Q. What is the secret of the different degrees of faith 
we feel at different times, in regard to the bestowal of the 
blessings we seek ? 

A.. We are constantly being acted upon by all our 
surroundings, and because we are, we are perpetually 
changing. Our mental state is constantly changing. 
We are sometimes full of faith, and sometimes where 
faith should be there is a vacuum. We act upon all other 
intelligences, and all other things, all other intelligences, 
act upon us. I We are motes in the sunbeams of God's 
infinite power. We are sometimes here, and sometimes 
there. Sometimes the rays strike us "perpendicularly, 
and sometimes aslant. We cannot always think alike. 
We cannot always act alike. Variety seems to be the 
order of change. No two expressions of a soul are 
exactly alike. No two things are exactly alike. 

Q. Does spirit-power manifest itself— by intense pain 
in the arms, and what is its object? 

A.. Sometimes the action of a foreign spirit is mani- 
fested in that way. When spirits desire to come into 
rapport with media by writing, they sometimes seek to 
cut off the electrical flow that passes between the brain 
and the fore-arm, in order that they may use that limb 
without using the brain. When this is done it is very 
apt to produce a heavy, dull pain ; at other times, when 
a spirit acts upon the arm in connection with the brain, 
there is a sharp, quick pain. And it is produced by a 
foreign electrical force passing through the nerves coming 



280 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

in contact with that which is legitimate to the individual. 
Do you understand? [I do.] 

By John Pierpont, May 6, 1868. 

Q. What is the peculiar principle, or attribute, in the 
human soul, as distinguished from lower organization, 
upon which w r e predicate immortal existence? 

A. Divine aspiration and divine inspiration. We do 
not find the brute creation aspiring to anything higher. 
We do not find that they can be inspired with divine 
things. They live in the sphere of their brute life. 
They do not ask to go beyond it. But the human soul is 
never satisfied. When it has attained one heaven, it asks 
for another still better. 

By Theodore Parker, May 10, 1869. 

Q. I once heard a Swedenborgian preacher say that 
there were in the spirit- world mountains, hills, rivers, 
bones, blood, digestion, nerves, brain, hands, feet, &c, 
and that the ground, in the spirit- world, is just as solid to 
the tread of spirit- feet, as the ground in earth-life is to 
us. Is the above true? 

A. It certainly is absolutely, positively true. 

Q. You mean the blood and bones? 

A. I certainly mean just that. 

Q. Are those who are slaves to circumstances in this 
life, likewise fettered in spirit-life? 

A. To a certain extent they are. You are not 
ushered into a state of perfect happiness at death. The 
other life finds you precisely where this life leaves you. 
You are surrounded ofttimes in the spirit-world by condi- 
tions that seem to be adverse to your happiness. You 
struggle against them, and in struggling you grow strong. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 281 

For rny own part, I would not wish to live in a world 
where there was nothing but ease and quiet comfort. I 
should lose, my strength. I should take on weakness. 
We only know of the better good by comparing it with 
the lesser good. If we had no mental storms, no dark 
hours, wherein our spirits were bathed with dews of un- 
happiness, we should hardly know how to appreciate an 
opposite condition. Supposing we had all peace and joy ; 
would we be satisfied with that forever? I think not. 
We are so constituted spiritually, as well as physically, 
that we have need to meet with opposites. We cannot 
exist only as we exist between two opposites. They play 
upon: us alternately, and in consequence of that alternate 
play, we live and move and have our being. We have 
need of the shadow ; we have need of the joy ; and for 
my part I thank God that we have them both. 

Q. Are we tormented in spirit-life by persecution and 
slander ? 

A. Not precisely as you are, because society is differ- 
ently organized in the spirit-world from what it is here. 
To a certain extent it may resemble it, but it is much 
superior to society here. A man or woman in the spirit- 
world is known for precisely what they are, nothing more. 
The slanderer wears the garb of the slanderer ; the peace- 
maker wears the garb of the peace-maker. /The fashions, 
so far as external adornment is concerned, originate in 
the inner life. That is the grand Paris of the spirit-world. 
You may be assured that you will all get your annual 
fashion-plates. You won't have to purchase them. 
They come to you. ; 

Q. Are not those who are wealthy and at their ease 
in this life, and thereby possess the means of improving 
their social, moral, and intellectual faculties and relations, 



282 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

much more advanced in spirit-life than the poor, who 
through poverty and adverse surroundings lead the life of 
deprivation and unhappiness? 

A. No, by no means. Jesus, the sage and philoso- 
pher, was poor. He went about with poor raiment, and 
without scrip, not even the poor kind that you have to- 
day. And if we are to take his condition as an exam- 
ple, surely we cannot reckon much upon happiness as 
accruing to us as spirits from riches, the riches of this 
world. Why, I have seen the richest spirit being resur- 
rected from a form that had not enough of this world's 
goods to hold it and the spirit in unison ; therefore the 
separation came. And again, I have seen poor spirits 
coming from robes of purple and fine linen. They had 
no garment to cover their nakedness in the spirit-world. 
Oj you must not measure happiness by riches* If you 
do, you will make a very great mistake. 

By William E. Channing, May 31, 1869. 

Q. Is it wise for mortals here to consult with spirits 
on questions of a purely business nature? Is their ad- 
vice likely to be valuable? and can we trust it more than 
the advice of mortals on the earth? 

A. There are a large class of spirits freed from the 
mortal form who are intensely interested in the business 
of this physical life. They find their heaven here, and 
are never more happy than when acting out the desires 
or peculiar conditions in which they find themselves 
placed. They are attracted to your business sphere. 
They have never been cut loose from it. They revolve 
in it as motes revolve in the sunshine, and under favor- 
able conditions they may be good advisers to those who 
dwell in mortal, because they can see farther than mortals 



FROM THE. SPIRIT-LAND. 283 

can. They can reach the thoughts of your friends, of 
your enemies, can see their secret motives, can under- 
stand what they intend to do, what moves they intend 
to make in life ; while you, with your human senses 
shrouded by mortality, might not be able to determine 
concerning the thoughts that might be revolving in the 
brain of your neighbor, they might be able to determine 
concerning all. And yet it would be poor counsel to ad- 
vise that you lay down your own powers of perception at 
the feet of any spirit, in or out of the body. Advice is 
most excellent, but it is not always well to appropriate 
to our own use all the advice that may be given us, 
whether it comes from the world of spirits out of the 
body or in the body. There are some minds who con- 
sider it very impious to call upon spirits to aid them in 
the things of this life. That is a mistake. Since they 
move in that sphere yet, it is not at all unright to call 
upon them to act for you. But again I say, have a care 
how you lay down your own power, how you fail to use 
your talents when you have them, but are ready to use 
those that belong to another. 

By Rev. Phineas Stowe, June 1, 1869. 

Q. Can mankind be spiritualized much in advance of 
material surroundings? If not, ought not those sur- 
roundings to be improved, as a first step towards enlight- 
ened spiritual revelations? 

A. Spirit, even while it struggles in the womb of 
matter, causes that matter to grow, to unfold, to become 
more perfect. It is no use to deny that we are influenced 
for good, or for w T hat men call evil, by our surroundings. 
Place the criminal in beautiful and harmonious conditions ; 
give unto that spirit that which will satisfy it ; take it 



284 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

away from its haunts of vice ; surround it with beauty ; 
make all things that the eye rests upon appeal to its sense 
of beauty, and what will be the result? Why, in my 
opinion, the criminal will be such no longer. It is only 
the hard conditions of unfortunate human experience that 
make your criminals. Take them away from these, and 
the divinity of their spirits shows itself, even through the 
crudity of human life. 

Q. According to the doctrine of the church of which 
I am a member, if a family in this world do not live 
rightly, if certain members go astray here, when they go 
into the spirit-world they will be separated. Is this true? 

A.. There is a spiritual affinity binding soul to soul 
that cannot be infringed upon. If the members com- 
posing your family are spiritually attracted to each other, 
no power in all the universe can prevent them from 
meeting and associating with each other after death. 
They will as naturally gravitate together as a ball will 
fall to the earth, if dropped from the hand of the holder. 
Nature — Nature's God — - hath made wise provision for 
us all. Sin, or the mistakes which we may make in life, 
will have nothing to do with our being kept apart, or 
attracted together. If there is a soul-affinity, drawing 
soul to soul, that is blessed by God, which no power can 
separate. There are many mothers in the soul-world 
who are not attracted to their offspring. They give birth 
only to the body, and not to the soul. This may seem 
a strange assertion, but it is true. And again, there are 
souls that never met in this life, that are attracted to- 
gether by a subtle law that binds them, whether they will 
or no. This is the power of God, working through in- 
telligence. Those families that are grouped together in 
spiritual life here, will be grouped together in spiritual 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 285 

life in the hereafter. But if the reverse, they will be as 
widely separated as the planets are widely separated from 
each other. 

By Theodore Parker, June 3, 1869. 

Q. Is life, or that principle of vital activity which is 
manifested through the human organism, spirit? If not, 
what is it leaves the body at death ? 

A. Spirit I define as something undiscernible by 
human sense ; something which no living soul can meas- 
ure or analyze. I define life to be, so far as w r e under- 
stand it, a manifestation of spirit. Those things which 
our senses perceive, recognize, are the things of life, all 
living things, every one of them — not one dead; and 
they are all manifestations of spirit. That subtle power 
that defies the scalpel, and passes out of the body at the 
change called death, I believe to be spirit, co-eternal 
with the God-spirit, and part and portion of the divine 
life,— -such a part as that divine life saw fit to exercise 
over humanity. You call it the spirit of man, the soul 
of man or woman. It matters not by what term it is 
recognized. It is the one spirit, the infinite, all-per- 
vading — a something indestructible, without creation 
and without end. 

Q. You consider all spirit immortal? 

A. I do, most certainly. And I have most ample 
proofs that it is all immortal. 

Q. Then animals are not at death swept into a grand 
chaos — the great mass of spirit — to be again worked 
over into some other form? 

A. By no means. Here is the rock — the rock of 
form — upon which all classes of theological scientists 
split, and many of them founder ; the rock of form, sup- 



286 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

posing that the form we have or behold to-day will exist 
forever ; that the immortality rests with that, is dependent 
upon that. By no means is it. Forms are constantly 
changing, as spirit has need of higher instruments 
through which to express itself. The instrument is made 
better. How is it with regard to the flowers? They are 
not to-day what they were years ago. And why not? 
Because the God that was within them called upon the 
God that was within the human intellect, and said, 
"Come, intelligence, shed your dews upon me, act upon 
me, bring me into a higher form of good." What was 
the result? Why, the husbandman went to work to 
make more beautiful flowers, to add new hues to their 
fair faces, to make more beautiful their forms, to change 
for the better the rose and lily, not at all infringing upon 
Nature or Nature's God. Immortality does not call upon 
the form for its power. By no means. Forms must 
change. You have evidence of that every day of your 
lives. But the immortality that belongs to the form is 
immortal forever and forever. There is no sudden 
change of those forms, but a gradual growth. If the 
change was sudden it would produce too great a shock in 
the realm of intelligence ; therefore it is very slow, comes 
as you are prepared for it. The years throw their snows 
upon your brows as you are prepared to receive them — 
just so fast, and no faster. 

Q. If spirit is not matter, is all spirit the same — 
that is, equally advanced or perfect? If so, what benefit 
is derived from its manifestation through matter? 

jl. That spirit is not matter, matter is every day 
proving. But that spirit is inseparably connected with 
matter, matter is also every day proving. Matter is the 
expression of spirit, not the spirit; the outer bark, the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 287 

foliage, the branches, not the inner, invisible life. What 
the advantage? Why, all intelligence can answer that 
question as well as we can. Of what advantage is it to 
you of this age that you have greater light than they w r ho 
lived ages before you did? Since you require greater 
light, certainly it is for your advantage to have it. All 
the expressions of spirit through matter are not only an 
advantage to matter, but is also to intelligence, to that 
subtle force that expresses itself through the human 
brain, and says, "Behold, this is very beautiful or very 
grand." The world of matter was made for the world 
of intelligence. When you keep this in your mind, you 
will hardly wonder that matter changes its form. 

Q. Is the spirit of the infant an emanation from that 
of the parent? and, if so, is the spirit of the parent less 
an individualized entity, or does it suffer any diminution 
or disarrangement in its powers ? 

A.. The infant is physically a physiological result of 
the parents' life, but spiritually it is not. It is a spirit 
independent of either father or mother ; you may be sure 
of this. It is from God, the Great Spirit, the Father 
and Mother, the Whole, the Universal Life. 

Q. t If the spirit of the infant is not an emanation 
from that of the parent, whence does it originate? At 
what period during the incubation does it take possession 
of the human organism? 

A. At conception. 

By Theodore Parker, June 7, 1869. 

Q. Can you describe the separation termed death 
from your side ? 

A.. At death, the law of attraction begins to cease 
between the particles composing the physical body. 



283 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

They grow less and less active. Their power passes off, 
and takes on a purely electrical form. All the forces 
of the body slowly pass out when this disintegration 
commences. Clairvoyance can behold them, and de- 
scribes them as a mist, sometimes as a halo, sometimes 
as a smoke floating out of the form, generally forming 
the most dense cloud from the brain. Nature seems to 
gather all her forces together in the brain at the last ex- 
tremity, and the last magnetic vital force that exists in 
the body exists in the heart and brain. When this is no 
more, then the whole body is pervaded with the electrical 
force. There is an entire absence of the magnetic, and 
the spirit cannot hold connection with the body after all 
the magnetic force has retired. The spirit passes out of 
the body. When the last particle of magnetic force 
goes, the spirit goes with it, and not till then. Some- 
times when you call a person dead, when you say the 
body has parted from the spirit, it is not always so. 
There may be an appearance of death, when the spirit 
may be strongly attached to the body still. But after the 
last magnetic life is gone, then the electrical force is 
predominant, and the work of change commences at 
once. It is, under natural circumstances, not, at all 
painful. It is quite unlike what you have supposed it to 
be. But when the change comes in consequence of vio- 
lence to any part, or in consequence of violent disease 
which is not in the order of nature, then there is pain 
attendant upon the disease. But when death comes nat- 
urally, as it should did you all live in accordance with 
Nature's laws, there would be no pain. The passage 
would be easy and pleasant, attended with no fear, but 
with a certain joy that freedom only can bestow upon the 
spirit. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 289 

Q. How long does the separation take ? 

A. That depends upon the natural magnetic vitality 
of the individual, or, in other words, upon their tenacity 
to physical life. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, June 8, 1869. 

Q. I have been searching and investigating this spir- 
itual philosophy for nearly twenty years ; have taken the 
"Banner of Light" at various times and places, obtained 
subscribers for the same, feeling that in due time I would 
get some message from a departed friend. I have lost 
many and very dear friends, one of whom passed away 
two years ago, with a promise to me that, if it was pos- 
sible, he would return and give me some test by which I 
could recognize him ; and as he knew Mrs. Conant per- 
sonally, the test might possibly come through her inedi- 
umship ; but I get nothing, either from him or any other 
friend. Now, the question is — and it is asked by thou- 
sands ; I only ask to have it answered philosophically — 
why I get no message, while every paper is replete with 
messages that we know nothing of? 

JL. Christ came to save that which had need of sal- 
vation, or, as the record hath it, he came to seek and to 
save that which was lost. The object of these seances is 
not to convince those who are already convinced ; is not 
to bring proof to those who have already more than they 
can well digest. The object is to bring it to those who 
might remain in spiritual darkness for a long time, did 
the light not come to them from this source. Seven out 
of every ten of all the messages that are received at this 
place go to those who have little knowledge of the spirit- 
ual phenomena. Consequently they are silent upon the 
subject whea they receive their messages. But the work 
19 



290 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is accomplished, the seed is sown, and the harvest is just 
as sure to come as is the harvest to the husbandman here 
in vegetative life. The spirit- world is constantly in re- 
ceipt of urgent desires on the part of friends here, for 
their friends in spirit to return through this avenue. But 
since, should their call be considered and spiritually 
attended to, others who have greater need would be shut 
out for a time, it is deemed the better course to let those 
w r ho are not hungry remain without the loaf. Those 
whose spiritual gardens are already blooming with flowers 
and green with leaves — - the angel passes over them 
with a silent blessing, and stops only upon those desert 
places where the earth is ready for seed, and where none 
has been sown. It would be well for your correspondent 
to address a note to the spirit in question, seal it satisfac- 
torily, and send it to this place, and see what will come 
of it. In all probability, some answer will be given. 

Q. If the Indian is hereafter to enjoy his hunting- 
grounds, will there not be something for him to hunt? 
and does not this involve suffering, and even death? 
The idea of suffering and death, in such a sense, and in 
such a condition or state, is revolting to my mind. Are 
these statements to be taken literally or figuratively? 
Will you enlighten? 

A. They are not figurative expressions. By no 
means. We mean that. they shall be literally understood. 
When the Indian tells you that he has hunting-grounds 
in the spirit-land, he tells you what is true. If he has 
hunting-grounds, that presupposes that he has something 
to hunt. That, also, is true. That there is death in the 
spirit-land is equally true. But what is death? It is 
only change. Flowers change their forms for better 
ones. The morning sun and the evening shade, though 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 291 

coming from the same source, differ, and no two rays of 
light issue from the same central source exactly alike. 
There is a difference in the form and in the action of all 
things at all times. Nature never makes two precisely 
alike. Death is vested in sable garments with you. But 
not so with the disembodied spirit ; standing apart from 
death, and viewing it from the philosophical stand-point, 
we find it bereft of all shades, and clothed with light. 
Forms change ; old things pass away. All things are 
perpetually being resurrected. Not only is it here with 
you in this life, but it continues so to be in the future 
life, and I doubt not it will so continue throughout the 
endless future. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, June 15, 1869. 

Q. Do disembodied spirits ever cause mortals to 
commit suicide? Is the act justified under any circum- 
stances ? 

A. Disembodied spirits do often influence mortals in 
this direction, as in all others. Every act is justified by 
its parents — by those propelling powers that force it 
into objective life. This is no exception. All the mis- 
takes that the soul makes in its passage through time 
must be dearly paid for. No one can atone for them ex- 
cept those who commit them. You call them sins ; so 
they are, because they stand out in the light of evil to 
your sense. You understand them to be such. All that 
which does not appeal to your sense as right is in that 
degree evil — a sin. But we call your mistakes results 
of ignorance. No one will commit suicide if they are, 
at the time the act is committed, in the possession of a 
proper amount of knowledge concerning the fate of the 
suicide. But there are a variety of circumstances that 



292 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

force the weak one to take this choice. Poverty some- 
times forces in that direction. Pain, disease, indeed, all 
the ills that human life is heir to, may become levers, 
forcing the intellect in this channel. And the act is of 
necessity justified by the propelling power of which it 
w r as born. But wisdom never justifies any act that is not 
in harmony with our highest light. When the soul be- 
comes wise — above ignorance — stands apart from it, 
and beholds the mistakes it has made, in all their deform- 
ity, then it is that remorse comes^ and the soul receives 
its due amount of chastisement, 

Q. As I understand it, the physical form is for the 
purpose of individualizing spirit. If so, will the time 
arrive when all unindividualized spirit will thus have be- 
come individualized, and consequently there be no neces- 
sity for an earthly existence? 

A. Every individual possesses a double individuality, 
one belonging to the inner and one to the outer life. 
The latter is the result of physique, education ; the 
former of divine inspiration. They are separate and dis- 
tinct from each other ; although while in the body they 
hold the closest relationship to each other, yet there is a 
distinct dividing line ever running between them. Since 
you are both divine and human, you have need of not 
only a divine but of a human individuality. One pays 
allegiance to the things of this human life, and the other 
pays allegiance to the divine life. And they are per- 
petually at war with each other, because they are two 
opposites, and in chemistry when two opposites are 
brought together there is violent action, opposition. But 
be it understood that all opposition, in the end, in the 
finale, results in good, in great good. The very friction 
that is produced by this opposition is that which elevates 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 293 

the soul and gives it a certain amount of knowledge that 
it would otherwise be without. Soul, as purely soul, 
-could never be understood. It must come in contact 
with form in order to express itself. Music would for- 
ever remain unheard were there no instruments through 
which its mystic power could play. Music is in the air, 
in all things, but it requires proper instruments under the 
law of music in order that it may demonstrate its pres- 
ence. So it is with spirit, the soul. There is also a 
spiritual body through which the inner life can express 
itself. It holds the same relationship to the soul or the 
spirit that the body holds to the spirit- form. A triune 
nature have you all, and when one form is laid aside as 
useless to the spirit, as having fulfilled its mission, done 
its work, you are not to suppose that the spirit passes out 
in an unindividualized state, so far as form is concerned, 
that it has no longer need of form, for this is not so. 
Nor are you to suppose that your individuality that 
belonged to the form earthly is carried intact to the 
spirit- world and has form there, for it has not. 

Q. The last part of the question is, will the time 
ever arrive w T hen all uniridividualized spirit will have 
become individualized, &c. ? 

A.. No time has been revealed to us wherein such a 
state of things exists. So long as the earth is capable 
of producing physical forms, temples through which in- 
telligence can unfold, can come into communication with 
outer objects in nature, so long they will be produced, in 
my opinion. 

Q. Is it not possible that in succeeding ages, both 
matter and spirit having passed through a refining pro- 
cess, they will again unite and repeat the circle in a 
greater developed condition ? 



294 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. It is not only possible or probable, but according 
to the law of chemistry in nature it is a something that 
must take place. 

Q. Do you mean to say that these spirits that now 
occupy forms may at some future stage of life come back 
and take another, perhaps finer form? 

A. Judging from the experience of others, predicat- 
ing our faith upon their experience, we are as sure of it 
as we are of our immortality* 

Q. I have felt myself that I once inhabited this earth 
in another form, that I lived far in the East, in India; 
whether it is true I cannot say. 

A. It is not at all improbable. In all probability 
your spirit projects faint glimpses of a prior existence 
through your present physical senses. But they are so 
faint, and come to you in such broken fragments, that 
you can scarcely understand them. 

Q. I do not understand. I only have a sense of 
something far off and indistinct that has been in the past. 

One of the Audience. I wish to state that some forty 
years ago, in this city, I was conversing with a brother- 
in-law of mine on this subject, and he said he was posi- 
tive that he had had an existence prior to this. He is 
not now living, but if he would come and corroborate 
that statement it would be very satisfactory to me. 

A. We meet with those who have a similar expe- 
rience. That which was vague and shadowy in that 
respect in earthly life, becomes clearer and clearer as 
they pass out of the mists and shadows of the earthly life. 

Q. Is this common to all humanity ? 

A. It is. It belongs alike to every one. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 295 

By Rev. Joseph Lowenthall, June 23, 1869. 

Q. As all things in Nature, whether of the mineral, 
vegetable, or animal kingdom, have a point of com- 
mencement, of completeness, and of decay, as regards 
their individualized forms, will there not also come a time 
in the far ages of the future, when this our planet, earth, 
having brought her productions to their highest possible 
development, will gradually pass into decay and cease to 
exist in its present form, its elements being absorbed into 
other and newer planets ? and is not the same true of all 
systems of worlds in the universe? 

A.. Forms are constantly changing their place ; and 
that is not all — they are constantly becoming disinte- 
grated and as constantly taking on new particles, absorb- 
ing and giving out. Planets are no exception. The 
grains of sand under your feet are constantly passing 
through a variety of changes. Form loses its identity, 
but the spirit of form does not lose its identity, save that 
which is allied to form and dependent upon form. Every 
special kind of life has a distinct mission of its own to 
perform, and having performed that mission it changes 
its place, steps out of its orbit, and gives place to some- 
thing higher. The earth, like all other planets, has a 
destiny to fulfil, a certain mission, so far as its earthly 
career is concerned. Having fulfilled that, it will pass 
out of its present orbit, enter a spiritual orbit, and will 
become more etherealized, more spiritualized, than at 
present, and incapable of sustaining the same kind of 
life that it sustains at present. 

Q. Is the use of table stimulants, as tea, coffee, &c, 
a positive hinderance to the development of mediumship, 



296 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

and especially of clairvoyance? and in what way can a 
person desiring such development aid its progress ? 

A.. All such stimulants do not hinder the progress 
of mediumship, not in the least, but they do sometimes 
change the character of mediumship. They affect in that 
way, but they do not hinder the progress of mediumship. 
Some of the rarest exhibitions of clairvoyance, of spir- 
itual vision, have been given when the clairvoyant was 
under the influence of some powerful narcotic. It is a 
well-known fact that the seers and seeresses of olden 
times were in the habit of visiting certain places where 
the air, by its peculiar electric condition, would contribute 
to clairvoyance, to second sight, to the trance, to the 
changing of speech, and all the various manifestations 
incident to mediumship. These table stimulants are but 
children of the same parent. They are but those condi- 
tions which under proper states produce those exalted 
states called mediumship. Used to excess, of course 
they produce unhappy conditions ; and again, as I before 
remarked, they sometimes change the character of me- 
diumship, but they do not cause the wheels of the car of 
progress to stand still. 

Q. In the transition to spirit-life does the spirit enter 
at once into a healthy, manly condition, or must it go 
through a process of development before coming to its 
full stature ? 

ji. As death, or the change so called, leaves you, so 
the spirit-world takes you up. Some spirits may become 
possessed of that entire vigor of manhood or womanhood 
that is so desirable to mentality, immediately after enter- 
ing the spirit-world ; others remain in a dormant state, 
incapable of action to any great extent for a long time. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 297 

Q. Is there any condition in this present life where 
people can live free from sin? 

A. That depends upon how you define the term sin. 
All growth involves mistakes. So long as individualities 
grow, so long they are liable to make mistakes. Those 
mistakes you call sins. Perfection, if such a state can 
ever be attained, shuts out all sin. But I know of no 
one who has ever attained that state of perfection that 
church people so earnestly pray for. Not in this life can 
it be found, and I have not found it as yet in the spirit- 
life. 

Q. Is there any standard of right and wrong in the 
spirit-life ? 

A. No, none whatever, save those standards that are 
erected in every living soul. Each one has a standard 
for themselves, and no one can borrow of another. 

Q. Are clairvoyants always controlled by individual 
spirits ? 

A. No, certainly not. There is what is termed in- 
dependent clairvoyance — a state wherein the clairvoyant 
becomes suddenly thrown into a condition whereby the 
past is revealed, and the future, together w^ith the present, 
without the intervention of any second intelligence. 

Q. By what power are they drawn into it? 
A. By the action of natural law — that law that is 
found in the physical form, and that finds a correspond- 
ence in all its surroundings. Clairvoyance is dependent 
for agents upon all that by which it is surrounded, even 
that that is called independent clairvoyance, which does 
not need the aid of any foreign intelligence. You some- 
times wander apart from the body in sleep without the 
aid of any foreign spirit. You are clairvoyant then. 
You take cognizance of things passing perhaps in other 



298 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

lands, perhaps in the spirit-world. You receive visions 
of the to come ; you receive pictures of that which is past, 
and the living reality of that which is present, all through 
independent clairvoyance. But this same independent 
clairvoyance is dependent upon the soil, upon the electri- 
cal and magnetic currents by which the subject is sur- 
rounded, and by these conditions, but not by the inter- 
vention of any outside spirit. n, 

By Cardinal Cheverus, June 22, 1869. 

Q. It is said that the spiritual body possesses all the 
organs of the physical body, and that there is nothing 
without use. If this be the case, of what use to the spirit 
are the teeth and stomach? Do spirits eat food, masti- 
cating and digesting it, and passing it out of the system in 
the spirit-world as we do in this? If not, of what use 
are the internal organs ? 

_4. The spirit-body possesses all the organs known to 
the natural body, and all the attributes, all the functions, 
known to the natural body, and more also ; for at each suc- 
cessive step in progress the spirit has need of new functions, 
new attributes, and the Divine Providence provides for all 
it hath need of. Yes, the spirit has a stomach, has teeth, 
and uses them. Spirits have need to eat, as you have. 
They do not subsist upon nothing. Here you are in the ru- 
dimental state of spirit-life, and here you eat. There spirits 
dwell in a more refined state, but there they eat also. Re- 
ceive and give is in the order of nature, divine and human. 
Therefore, all the processes by which progress is carried on 
here, are known also and made use of in the spirit-world. 

Q. Is the spirit-body a perfect type of the natural 
physical body? When the latter is deformed, will the 
deformity appear in the spiritual body after death ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 299 

A. Those deformities that are the result of accident, 
so called by you, will not appear upon the spirit-body, 
for it can suffer no accident. That deformity that ap- 
pears upon the body that is outwrought from the inner 
forces will appear also upon the spirit-body. 

Q. Can the spirit detach itself from the spiritual 
body? 

A, Yes ; but as spirit is always dependent upon form 
as a mode of expression, it can only detach itself from 
one spirit-body to become attached to another. 

Q. Can we change these forms at will ? 

A. Yes, under proper circumstances, but under cir- 
cumstances requisite to the case. You can commit sui- 
cide here if you are only furnished with proper conditions, 
and it is the same yonder. 

Q. In reference to the previous question I would ask, 
suppose a person is born with native deformities ; are these 
seen in the spirit? 

A. They are seen upon the spirit-form, and remain 
there till that form passes beyond them in growth. 

Q. Then the spirit will of necessity make itself ap- 
parent in that form in returning to earth through medi- 
ums? It might be recognized clairvoyantly by those 
deformities ? 

A. Yes, certainly, as by the color of the hair, the 
eyes, the skin, the size, the temperament. All these are 
results of the projecting power of spirit through matter ; 
therefore they appear upon the spirit-body as upon the 
natural body. But if by accident, by violence, a limb 
of the natural body is lost or disfigured, or any portion 
of the body is disfigured, that is not seen upon the spirit- 
body, for it comes from the external, and belongs to the 
external. The negro is the negro still in the spirit-world ; 



300 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the Indian is the Indian still. And why ? Because he 
has been made such by the action of the inner or spiritual 
forces upon the outer or natural forces. 

Q. Is spirit-power communicated to physical bodies 
through electricity as a medium? or by what means are 
they enabled to move chairs, tables, or other material 
bodies ? 

A. Electricity is the most powerful agent we know, 
under the direction of spirit. It is by that power that all 
tangible bodies are moved — all the so-called miracles 
are performed. 

Q. Does this account for the power of healing by 
electricity ? 

A.. Yes, I believe the terms magnetism and electricity 
are synonymous. They are only different terms of one 
power. It is a subtle force, in the hands of intelligence 
and under the direction of intelligence, that becomes all- 
powerful everywhere. 

Q. Is the medium of necessity gifted with more of 
the positive force than of the negative or recipient ? 

A. No. Sometimes the more negative the medium 
or subject, the greater the power that can be exercised 
through them ; for it so happens that nearly all your cures 
performed by your healers, either modern or ancient, are 
performed by the intervention of spirit — perhaps many 
spirits. The material form is but the tunnel through 
which the power is poured. It is that instrument that 
causes the forces to come to a focus, that thereby they 
may be centred upon the one to be healed. Sometimes 
there are persons found who are so largely gifted in their 
own natural bodies that they can perform very strange 
and wonderful cures aside from the intervention of any 
other spirit. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 301 



By Cardinal Cheverus, June 24, 1869. 

Q. If, upon leaving the body, the spirit gravitates to 
a congenial sphere, how can it be unhappy ? or, in other 
words, how can you reconcile congeniality with unhap- 
piness ? 

A.. I do not understand that spirits at death are 
ushered immediately into a congenial sphere. I do un- 
derstand that they may gravitate, each one to their own 
proper sphere, whatever or wherever it may be. No one 
can occupy the sphere belonging to another. It is con- 
genial to their needs, to their state, but not to their 
desires ; therefore it does not provoke happiness. The 
second state of existence, or that which is so understood 
to be by you, is a very natural state, devoid of all the 
lines of castes and creeds and conventionalities of this 
state. Here, people, by virtue of the needs of this life, 
dw T ell in states that do not belong to them spiritually. It 
is not so in the other life. Gold cannot buy place or 
position. Wealth, that wealth that is recognized to be 
such by the soul, purchases only for the soul that that 
the soul is ready to receive, nothing more. 

By Cardinal Cheverus, June 28, 1869. 

Q. How do spirits obtain the food they use? What 
equivalent do they give for it ? Do they work for it as 
we do here? and, if so, are they subject to the terrible 
reverses humanity experiences upon this earth on that 
account ? 

A. It is said that it is the order of Nature, in physi- 
cal life, to obtain bread by the sweat of the brow, by toil, 
by exertion ; and we may add further that to obtain any- 
thing that ministers either to our pleasures or our needs, 



302 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

we must exert ourselves, we must toil, we must labor. 
There is a kind of labor that belongs especially to the 
physical body, the physical, organic life, and there is 
another kind of labor which belongs to spiritual life. 
This kind is desire — ardent, earnest desire. You know 
very well what the kind that belongs to physical life is. 
You are not unacquainted with the toil of the hands, of 
the feet, the exerting of the members of the body to ob- 
tain what is necessary to sustain the body. But you are 
not so well acquainted with that which belongs more es- 
pecially to the spirit ; although you have sat, many, per- 
haps all of you, in the primary school of that spirit-labor, 
yet you have hardly crossed the threshold. Yes, spirits 
do labor to obtain what is necessary for them to have. 
They labor by earnest desire, but they do not meet with 
those terrible reverses that are met with here. The soul's 
needs in the soul-world stand out prominent and clear, 
and they demand a supply. And as the great Father 
Spirit has furnished an adequate supply for every want, 
no desire can have a fruitless birth. It must draw to 
itself that which the soul has need of. A very large class 
or group of spirits, who are as yet magnetically attached 
to the earth and earthly conditions, obtain much of their 
sustenance through the action of human life, through the 
magnetic conditions that belong partly to human life, or 
stand as agents between this world and the world of souls. 
This subtle element called magnetism is the agent in the 
hands of whoso can understand it ; and a very powerful 
agent it is, too. Poverty is known to the spirit after 
death, but not that kind of poverty that is experienced 
here. The soul can possess itself at will of all that is 
necessary for its good, for its advancement, for its unfold- 
ment. The law of mine and thine is done away with in 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 303 

the spirit-world. Let us thank the great Father for that. 
No soul can hug to its bosom any more of God's gifts 
than it has need of. No one can have more of the beauty 
of the spirit-world than it can well appropriate. There- 
fore you see there is enough for all. 

Q. Am I right in believing that the body serves to 
develop the spirit or spirit-body, and, having answered its 
purpose, fades and dies? — the spirit-body, having at- 
tained its maturity, remains firm, not sharing in the 
slightest degree in the decay of the material body, and 
presenting the same appearance when the man dies at the 
age of ninety that it would if he had died at thirty-five or 
forty? 

A. Your correspondent is very nearly correct. The 
spirit-body is indeed, to a very great extent, a production 
of the physical body and physical, magnetic life. And 
that spirit- body is not always matured here in this life. 
The infant possesses the spirit-body of the infant, and that 
spirit-body matures after death, perhaps just as well as 
before that change. 

Q. Do the souls of men and women essentially dif- 
fer, independently of the conditions thaT surround their 
bodies ? 

A, Not as souls ; in essence they are one ; but in the 
manifestation that accrues from the essence they are more 
than one. 

Q. What is the difference between spirit and animal 
magnetism ? 

A. The difference is in degree. One is more refined 
than the other. Animal magnetism is that that is adapted 
to animal life ; more crude, more dense than that adapted 
to spirit-life, In essence they are one. They differ only 
in decree. 



304 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Is the power emanating from healers of the sick 
this spirit-power, or is it blended with physical power? 

A. It is sometimes pure spirit-power ; at other times 
it is pure animal power ; at other times it is a blend- 
ing of the two. 

By Theodore Parker, June 29, 1869. 

Q. It has been stated through the medium, on dif- 
ferent occasions, by various parties, that a spirit is con- 
stantly developing, rising to higher life, and that the 
spiritual body is constantly putting on changes to cor- 
respond to this development. Now, in my mind, there 
is an antagonism between this statement and the state- 
ment that spirits do, or will in time to come, return to 
and reinhabit the earth, in mortal bodies. Viewed from 
my stand-point, the return of a spirit to and reinhabiting 
the earth in a mortal body, is retrogression, not progres- 
sion. From the second statement it would seem as 
though a person, after toiling to the top round, or there- 
abouts, of the spiritual ladder, was compelled to go to the 
bottom and remount. Will you please explain the ap- 
parent antagonism between the two statements? 

A.. The antagonism consists in your ignorance of the 
law, and of the true definition of the term progression. 
It is not simply a straightforward, onward and upward 
course — by no means. But it implies change, and all 
change takes place in cycles or circles. This is the order 
of nature, both human and divine. The germ progresses 
spirally, and what is true of the germ is true of mature 
life,, so called. You go up on the mountain-top ; you 
descend into the valley that you may ascend upon the 
next mountain-top. You seem to think that progression 
is attended by an even, uninterrupted sphere of action. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 305 

It is not so. There are different tones in the great scale 
of human progression ; some are low and some are high ; 
because you have touched once upon the low notes, you 
are not to suppose you are never to touch them again — 
by no means. Because you have known what human 
misery is once, you are not to suppose you are never to 
know it again. Though you ascend into the highest 
heaven, you are not to suppose you may not descend 
again to the lowest hell. Take for example the man 
Christ, who was said to be the special son of God. All 
Christianity so believes. Some consider him equal with 
the Father. If this be true, and if the record concerning 
his life be true also, surely you are not to expect any 
more than he had during his natural and divine life. He 
descended into the valley and shadow of death with all his 
godliness and. with ail his divine life; and, more than 
this, he mingled with publicans and sinners. In the 
garden of Gethsemane he sweat great drops of blood in 
his agony, and cried in his human weakness, "If it be 
thy will, let the cup pass from me ; nevertheless, let thy 
will, not mine, be done." And upon the cross he cried, 
" My God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? " This was 
progression in its divinest and truest sense. Jesus lost 
nothing of his godliness, nothing of his divinity, nothing 
that belonged to him as a superior being when he de- 
scended into these deep valleys of human misery. Shall 
we say that he ceased to progress then ? That would be 
a libel upon God and upon human nature, for progression 
is unceasing, eternal, never stops. If Jesus, the pattern 
of the divine life — such to the Christian world at least — 
could go down into the valley to progress, you must not 
expect anything better. It is life ever the same. Study 
it in form, and from a superficial stand-point, or from the 
20 



306 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

deep voice of your inner souls. Hear it. Study it down 
below the surface. Probe it clear to the bottom, if pos- 
sible. See that he did not descend into valleys of hu- 
man misery, and rise again uninterruptedly to the mount 
of transfiguration. You make a very great mistake in 
supposing that progression implies one constant, unin- 
terrupted march onward. 

Q. Is man anything more or less than the creature 
of birth and circumstances? If he is born with strong 
moral and mental characteristics, and the circumstances 
in which he is placed are congenial, he lives, as a matter 
of course, a moral and intellectual life. If, on the other 
hand, he is born with mental and moral qualities but mod- 
erately strong, and his surroundings are strongly adverse, 
he leads a depraved life. Now, taking this view of the 
subject, can man be considered a responsible being, or 
responsible in that manner and to that extent which the 
world, or a certain portion of it, considers him to be. 

A.. The poet says, — 

"'Tis education forms the common mind; 
Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 

And the poet tells here a great truth. Education does 
almost everything towards fashioning your human lives, 
towards determining concerning the course you shall take 
in all the various avenues of this life. If you are edu- 
cated to consider this path the best, you will be very likely 
to take it. If you are educated to consider the opposite 
best, you will very naturally take it. Your human na- 
ture is moulded in this life by your education. But there 
is a divine judge placed in every reasoning individual that 
will call the individual to account for all deeds and all 
thoughts, and to that judge you are responsible, and to 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 307 

none outside of that. No one is there outside of that divine 
judge which belongs to you as an individual to call you to 
judgment. You may infringe upon the rights of another, 
but the judge within will call you to account. Be sure 
of that, if you have in reality infringed upon another's 
rights. You can make no mistake in this life that you 
will not be punished for ; that you will not be held ac- 
countable for by the divine judge which belongs to you 
as an individual. 

Q: You do not mean to say that this punishment falls 
at once upon the trespasser. 

A. I mean to say that just as soon as you in your 
external nature come into rapport with the voice of the 
inner judge, you must respond, and you must come to 
judgment. It cannot be otherwise, and your sentence is 
quick and sure. 

By Theodore Parker, July 1, 1869. 

Q. Should the prayer be addressed directly to our 
departed friends, or to some other power or principle that 
may be enabled to assist? 

A. It matters not whether you make an agent of the 
spirit you desire to commune with, or whether you pray 
to the great general Spirit, that which is within each one 
of us. It makes no difference. 

Q. Is there any such thing as a special Providence 
that directs all the acts of life, to whom we can pray to 
ask for particular blessings ? 

A. All the special Providence that I know of is gener- 
al law, su^h as pertains to general life. I do not know — 
indeed, I do not believe that we can change the law one 
jot or tittle by our prayers. We can place ourselves in 
harmony with our circumstances, with the conditions by 



308 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

which Ave are divinely and humanly surrounded, by 
prayer, which is all, in my opinion, that we can do. We 
might pray to all eternity for the sun to come down that 
we may examine it. Would it come? I think not. We 
may pray to all eternity that Mount Vesuvius may be re- 
moved and cast into the sea. It will not avail. I know the 
record says so, but I do not believe it. Prayer, in that 
case, without works, would fail ; but we could go to work 
with shovel and spade, and perhaps do very much towards 
it. Prayer makes us in harmony with the law. It fits 
us to receive what we ask for, but it does by no means 
change the law itself. 

Q. Was Christ a Spiritualist? 

A.. Yes, he was a Spiritualist in the largest sense, 
and he lives to-day in your spiritual movement just as 
much as he lived in the spiritual movement of his day. 

By Cardinal Cheverus, July 6, 1869. 

Q. We find recorded in heathen mythology the his- 
tory of a prophet almost identical in name and acts with 
Jesus — his name Chrishna, or Chrisma — and the cir- 
cumstance of women wiping his feet with their hair is such 
a remarkable coincidence, that while it shakes the faith of 
the Christian, it furnishes strong proof to the sceptic of 
the mythical character of Christ. Can you give us light 
on the subject? 

A. Every nation has its idols — its gods and god- 
desses — peculiar shrines whereunto the people are called 
to worship. Neither Chrishna, nor Christ, were entirely 
beings of mythology, but so far as a certain portion of 
their lives are concerned, there is much of the mythic 
attached to them, and this is the case with all those beings 
that the nations worship. The aborigines of the country 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 309 

have their divinities, whose original is in real life, but 
that original is surrounded with so many mythical figures 
that the real is almost entirely lost to the human sight. 
While contemplating the mythic Christ, we are very apt 
to overlook the real personality, the spirit. We are verv 
apt to see only the external paraphernalia that the real has 
been surrounded with. It is not at all strange. It is in 
accordance with our organization as human beings. We 
are growing up through a variety of conditions that de- 
termine for us, whether we will or no. These conditions 
determine concerning our religious worship, concerning 
our God even. It is these conditions that form the im- 
age of our God, and determine that we shall worship that 
God, and none other. And as intelligence marches on 
through the ages, as mind becomes more and more en- 
lightened with regard to the history of past nations, and 
past religious histories, those images that have been in- 
vested with divinity begin to assume different shapes, 
begin to stand out in their real characters, begin to be 
seen for what they are. We understand them better as 
the light is shed upon them — the divine light, that which 
emanates from the past, which comes to us from the pres- 
ent, and that which is shed to us from the future. All 
things conspire to aid the spirit in its search for truth, 
all kinds of truth. The knowledge that such an individ- 
ual as Chrishna lived, does not at all detract from the 
reality or divinity of the Christian's Christ. But it only 
shows, or should show, the Christian that one of the fun- 
damentals of the Christian Church has been borrowed 
from ancient mythology. The Christ may be himself 
pure and intact. The truth is there, but the clothing has 
been borrowed. The rite of baptism is a borrowed rite. 
In fact, all the rites of the Christian Church, every one 



310 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

of them, are borrowed — some from Chrishna, some from 
Vishnu, iln fact, all the gods that preceded the Chris- 
tian God have loaned of their wardrobe, and the Chris- 
tians have appropriated it that their Christ may be 
clothed. I The present age offers great light, and who- 
soever refuses to see by it, and learn of it, will refuse to 
eat that bread which cometh down from heaven, which 
will nourish the soul for eternity. 

By Ab-dal-Ha-da, July 12, 1869. 

Q. Is there an element of life distinct from life- 
germs ? 

A. Life and form are one and inseparable. Spirit 
and matter ever act in concert. They are never sep- 
arated. When you talk about spirit as divorced from 
matter, you enter a wide field of speculation, that will al- 
ways be a field of speculation, and nothing more. Spirit 
and matter are one and inseparable. You can no more 
separate them than you can separate God from his works. 
Can you do this ? I have never found the individual who 
could. I have seen very many who have attempted it, 
and who have worked very hard to do it, but I never saw 
one that was successful. Spirit and matter belong to- 
gether, and we can only know of spirit or life as we know 
of matter. There is a subtle ether pervading space, en- 
tering all bodies, and assisting in all manifestations of 
life ; but as subtle as that is, it is connected with matter. 
The unseen forces pervading all nature are connected with 
matter. We only know what the air is by the matter it 
is connected with. We can never know anything of life 
only as we know it through forms of matter. We only 
read the Scriptures of our God through matter. I am 
a materialist, in every sense, because I know from obser- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 311 

ration and earnest study in the spirit-world that matter 
and spirit always go together, and are never separate. 

Q. What becomes of the life, the sensation, the in- 
stinct, the knowledge existing in the animal creation 
below man at their death. 

A.. All the instincts or reasons that belong to all the 
species of life below man and up to man are constantly 
changing places. The lower takes the qualities of the 
higher, passes through the higher, and goes on, forever 
on, changing its form and characteristics, but preserving 
its life intact. Nothing is lost, but everything is subject 
to the law of change. You are not to suppose that these 
human forms are precisely like those that the spirit mani- 
fests through after death. They are crowned with new 
attributes there, although they retain all that ever be- 
longed to them. They are constantly gathering fresh 
ones, constantly changing place and changing form. The 
animal does not lose its identity at death, by any means 
— it is an animal still. It comes through death to a 
higher plane, and there waits for another change. When 
that comes it takes a higher stand. It passes ever on- 
ward and upward, but it does not lose its identity. The 
horse is the horse still ; the dog is the dog still ; and yet 
you know that all species of life, whether animal, vege- 
table, or mineral, are capable of improvement. You can 
improve them by your intelligence here ; and if this is 
true, do you not suppose they go on improving to all eter- 
nity ? The dog is a finer dog in the spirit-world than here ; 
the horse is a finer horse ; the tree is a more glorious tree ; 
the flower is far more beautiful there than here ; and yet 
they preserve all that belongs to them, but they take on 
new life at every change. 



312 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. The Christian world do not admit the tree nor the 
flower into the spirit-world. 

A. O, no, of course not. The Christian world, as 
you well know, doubtless, has made a great many mis- 
takes. Christianity has always bowed down to error, 
and to nothing else. Christianity has overlooked the real 
life, and bowed down to idols always. In my time I had 
not the slightest faith or sympathy with your Christianity, 
not that which is embodied in creeds or churches — not at 
all. I had faith in all that was good. I believed in the 
principle of goodness — in the one God superintending 
all things and guiding all according to his own will ; but 
I had not the slightest faith in the soundness and genu- 
ineness or truthfulness of your Bible, your creeds, or your 
churches. They were to me false lights, leading us into 
ditches and pitfalls and miry places. 

Q. We classify all existences into the ponderable and 
imponderable. Your existence is to us that of the im- 
ponderable. Can you take cognizance of the elements 
we term imponderable as plainly and palpably as we can 
that of the ponderable ? 

A. That which you cannot feel, or recognize with all 
of your human senses, is imponderable to you. The air 
is an imponderable substance — - for it is a substance. 
To us the air contains images, forms of substance as tan- 
gible, as real as the solid earth to you. We take cogni- 
zance more clearly of those conditions of life that are 
imponderables to you than you do, because we have 
passed into nearer rapport with them. We stand face to 
face with them. But there are subtle elements in ad- 
vance of us. There are elements still imponderable to 
us. Advance as far in life as we may, we shall still find 
an element that is imponderable to us. We approach 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 313 

one ; we come into rapport with it ; we analyze it ; we 
find out what it is, and having disposed of that, lo ! there 
is another presented. / Our Father, God, does not mean 
that we shall be idle, that there shall ever come a time to 
our souls when we can say we have learned the whole, 
there is nothing more for us to learn or to do. God is 
wise. He knows that our spirits need to be active, and 
he gives us just one lesson at a time, and no more. 

Q. Is there any truth in astrology? 

A. Yes, the basis of astrology is eminently true. 
There are many features presented by astrology, modern 
and ancient, that are not true. But in the main the sci- 
ence is eminently true. We know that every form is 
connected with all other forms. There is a reciprocity 
of action throughout all Nature. The planets act upon 
us, and we upon them. They determine concerning cer- 
tain characteristics of our being, and they, possessing the 
larger life and larger power over us, of course guide us 
to a very great extent. We cannot guide the planets, be- 
cause we are inferior to them ; but the planets can guide 
us, can determine concerning our physical lives, to a 
very great extent. The science of astrology, when con- 
sidered from a spiritual stand-point, is sublime. It pre- 
sents wonders to our spirits that no other science ever 
has. It holds within itself the glory of the past, the 
present, and the future, and it beckons us onward as no 
other science ever has, or, in my opinion, ever can. 

By Wflliam E. Channing, July 13, 1869. 

Q. Do not the teachings at these seances tend to 
educate us to reject a belief of the spriritual superiority 
of Jesus over all other men living, or who have lived ? 
Speaking for myself, as a lover of Jesus, I know I have 



314 FLASHES OF, LIGHT 



e> 



great consolation in that love, and would very much dis- 
like to have it lessened. Even accepting that your teach- 
ings are true, does not my special love for Jesus result 
beneficially to myself and to my daily life, by bringing 
rne more en rctpport with the principles of which he was 
the embodiment? Take from us our love of and belief 
in Jesus, and even the best of us have nothing left but 
general moral sentiments. But leave Jesus to us, and we 
have friend, counsellor and example — in a word, God 
Incarnate. I do not ask (of course not) that truth be 
sacrificed to expediency ; but cannot we justly believe 
that Jesus was more than man, and more than any man 
has been, or ever can be? Take your own teachings of 
what God is, cannot we safely believe that Jesus was 
more of this than men were or are ? If this (to my view 
very important) string of queries be replied to, can the 
reply include some special reference to myself that shall 
convince me that it came from "over the river"? 

A. If Spiritualism teaches any investigating soul to 
think less of the pure doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth, 
then such a soul had better abandon the investigation of 
Spiritualism. Spiritualism is but the voice of this same 
Jesus the Christ, speaking unto the people of this day ; 
but how few there are who recognize this voice ! Even 
those who pretend to know most about Jesus know the 
least generally. Your correspondent, Mr. Chairman, 
seems to be wedded to an idol. He seems to have more 
love for the personality of Jesus, than for the divine prin- 
ciples he taught. He seems to forget thatl there is a di- 
vine truth in Spiritualism, precisely analogous to that 
which was taught by Jesus. \ Christianity has ever 
tended to idolatry, and I suppose it ever will, because 
Christianity has bowed down before the form, and has 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 315 

not thought of worshipping the spirit that animated the 
form. Christianity has recognized only the form. It is 
to be deplored, but it is true. Your correspondent says 
lie is a lover of Christ. It is well ; but he had better be 
in love with the divine principles of truth that this man 
Jesus taught, than to be in love with the man ; for he is 
nothing more than man — human, fallible, like ourselves. 
Behold him in his agony in the garden, praying that the 
cup might pass from him ! If he were God, would he 
have thus prayed? Surely not. Again, behold him 
upon the cross! "Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do." ^ If he had the power to forgive, 
would he have thus prayed? If he was God in the flesh, 
as a speciality, would he have thus petitioned the Father 
to forgive his enemies? No; surely not. All our rea- 
son rebels against that idea. He was our elder brother, 
preeminent in virtue, in all those glorious principles that 
shine so bright through every age, in the midst of all 
kinds of darkness. But there have been others than 
Jesus through whom these lights have shone. Every 
nation has been blessed with its divine teachers. Every 
tribe of men has been blessed w T ith its prophets, its seers, 
its wise men and holy women ; and shall we say that none 
of them were divinely inspired but Jesus ? It would be 
hardly fair to so determine. I would that there were 
more devout worshippers at the shrine of the spirit of 
Christ, and less at the shrine of the personality. I would 
that men and women could worship more the divine prin- 
ciple, and less the image. But so it is. The crust of 
humanity at present is not thin enough for the spirit to 
look out and behold beyond the form of the spirit that 
animates the form. But since we are growing through 
the conditions of life, passing higher and still higher, we 



316 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

have a hope that the time will come when religion, pure 
and undefiled, will be known ; that religion that worships 
God in spirit and in truth ; that knows no form ; that 
recognizes no altar save those the living God has erected 
everywhere ; that expects no general jndgment, but 
knows that the judgment seat is within every living soul. 
Your correspondent has but to compare notes between 
modern Spiritualism and that Judean Spiritualism taught 
by Jesus, and he can but come to the conclusion, if he 
is a reasonable individual, that they are one and the same, 
and that if he worships the "spirit of Christ as exhibited 
upon the plains of Judea, he worships the spirit of Spirit- 
ualism as it is seen to-day. 

Q. Do spirits regard the misdeeds of their earth- 
friends in the same light they did while here in the physi- 
cal form ? 

A. O, no ; they regard them with sympathy, with 
charity, with pity ; they regard them in the full light of 
truth ; they are able to see behind the effect, and discern 
the cause ; they know wherefore their friends take this or 
that course in life ; they see the propelling forces, the 
levers that move their friends in this or that direction. 
And when they see them forced by circumstances to take 
that which is the lesser good, they mourn over the course 
they have taken, but not without hope; because they 
know that by the experience they will gain in travelling 
that way, they will attain strength to free themselves, and 
will avoid such a course in future by coming into harmony 
with better laws, by making themselves acquainted with 
their surroundings. When we are thoroughly acquainted 
with the laws that govern us, we shall, of course, place 
ourselves in harmony with those laws, and shall move on 
in concert with them. It is only because we are ignorant 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 317 

of ourselves and the law, and our relation to the law, that 
we kick so hard against law. If we were not ignorant, 
we should never do this, because w r e should know that the 
law is greater than ourselves, and would rend us more 
severely if w r e were not in harmony with it. 

Q. Is there such a thing as that which we have been 
accustomed to term the vital principle or vital force, or is 
it a mere mode by which the elementary principles of life 
act? 

A. Yes ; there is such a thing as a vital force, a sub- 
tle principle that not only pervades the human form and 
keeps it in motion, but pervades all other forms. You 
call it sometimes electricity, sometimes magnetism. You 
divide it off into different degrees or states, and give it 
different names. It is an imponderable essence, that 
keeps these human machines in motion by playing upon 
the nerves, and the nerves in turn play upon the muscles. 
If it was not for the presence of this vital force in the 
system, decay would ensue. Wherever it is absent, de- 
composition begins to take place. If any part of the sys- 
tem is diseased, the vital force is not there. If it was, it 
would ward off disease ; it would keep the parts in health. 
The absence of it lays us open to disease. The presence 
of it keeps off disease, and keeps us in harmony with 
Nature's laws. When the vital force is lacking in a plant 
it dies. Its leaves wither ; its stalk becomes unable to 
transmit anything that will give new life from the roots. 
So it is with all kinds of animal life. When the vital 
force is lacking, the animal form begins to change, to 
decompose. The particles begin to separate. This vital 
force is found in the atmosphere, in the water, in the 
lightning, in the darkness. You find it everywhere. We 
may as well call it God as to call it anything else. 



318 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By Theodore Parker, July 15, 1869. 

Q. Can there be such a thing as a new and original 
idea? 

A.. No, not absolutely, because we do not know how 
much of the idea that we think we originate belongs really 
to us. We cannot tell how far we are inspired by cir- 
cumstances. We are never able to determine whether our 
thoughts are absolutely our own, the productions of our 
own being, or infused into our minds by some outside 
source. 

Q. According to geological theory, there was a time 
when the matter composing our earth existed in a state 
of liquid fire. Now, if the organizing life-germs of all 
things are eternal as individualized entities, where, at that 
time, were the life-germs that in the far distant future 
were to clothe the earth with vegetation, and people it 
with animal life ? 

A. We may say, and truthfully, too, that the germs 
of all physical life, so far as planet-life is concerned, are 
contained within the primary elements. Fire constitutes 
the basis of this planet, and all others. An eminent 
French chemist once said, that, to him, it was a fact that 
the flame produced from any body that was in process of 
burning contained within itself the entire body ; and 
more than that, if it was of a vegetable or mineral 
nature, the germ of that vegetable or mineral form. The 
flame held that germ intact, and a form representing the 
external form or thing that was burning. We know from 
positive knowledge, from observation, that if we burn a 
rose upon the surface of the water, a microscope will 
reveal the shape of the rose intact upon the water, pro- 
vided the water is still. I believe that not only the inner 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 319 

life, but the outer form, possesses, to a high degree, im- 
mortality. I believe that Nature holds in memory and in 
her vast laboratory all the forms that have ever been, pre- 
serves them all, loses not a single one. 

Q. Many persons believe that vegetation does some- 
times spring from the earth under conditions which pre- 
clude the possibility that any seed with a material cover- 
ing could have been there. Do you consider such a thing 
possible? 

A. Yes ; I do. 

By Theodore Parker, July 19, 1869. 

Q. Is the veil separating the spiritual and material 
worlds as much an obstacle to spirits as to mortals ? 

A. Yes, it is precisely the same, no difference. 

Q. Mortals penetrate this veil by clairvoyance, or 
the quickening of the spiritual senses ; but how are spirits 
cognizant of earth-scenes? Is it through their spiritual 
senses, or the corporeal senses of the medium? 

A. It is done by materializing the spiritual senses. 
This process is performed by coming into material rap- 
port with certain mediumistic bodies — bodies that are 
constantly throwing off through their magnetic and elec- 
tric lives the aura that can be used by spirits. They 
make use of it to see, to hear, to feel, to come into rap- 
port with all the objects that belong to this life. 

Q. Please give the mode of birth into spirit-life. Is 
the newly-born spirit a spontaneous presence to his spirit- 
friends, or is it a gradual process? 

A. When the last particle of magnetic life has been 
separated from the animal body, then the spirit-body is 
thoroughly and well formed. It is a distinct, objective 
intelligence to all other spirits. 



320 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Do you, as a spirit, possess a more definite idea 
of your destiny, and the destiny of the human race, than 
you possessed while in the earth-form ? 

JL. Yes, more definite, but not absolutely definite. 
We see a little farther into the future than we did when 
here ; that is all. 

Q. What is the use of feet and legs to the spirit, 
whose locomotion is accompanied by and with the rapid- 
ity of the will? 

JL. There is a use for all the limbs, all the parts and 
portions of the spirit-body. The rose possesses beauty 
of color and form. It is not conscious that it does pos- 
sess that beauty. It is all unconscious of the homage 
paid it by admiring mortals. Nevertheless, it possesses 
the beauty. Its petals are delicately formed and deli- 
cately painted. The spirit has need of form through 
which to express itself. The life of the rose, the spirit 
of the rose, has need of the form through which to ex- 
press itself. It is a mistaken idea that spirits do not use 
their limbs in the spirit-world. They do. They walk, 
they plan, they build, they have use for brains, for hands, 
for all the organs of the body, and as fast as the body 
has need of new unfoldment in form it has that new un- 
foldment. It does not remain always precisely what it 
was. If it did it would not grow. The infant spirit, as 
it passes into mature intellectual life, has need of a more 
mature form. Every peculiar atom of life generates 
within itself a peculiar kind of electric and magnetic be- 
ing. So, then, as the spirit is dependent upon these 
agencies, electricity and magnetism, for expression, and 
as these agencies are dependent upon form for expression, 
therefore the spirit grows till the form matures. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 321 

Controlling Spirit. Our attention was called this 
morning, by the lady medium whose organism we use, 
to an article appearing over the letters "H. C," in a 
Louisiana paper — I think bearing the name of the Liv- 
ingstone Herald. It seems that the author of the article 
has been somewhat shocked by seeing a message given at 
this place, purporting, as he says, to come from a negro 
girl. To him that circumstance places the negro not 
only upon a level with the white creation* but a little 
above it ; and he says the contemplation thereof is per- 
fectly heart-sickening. He contends, if I understand 
him aright, that the negro has no distinct immortality. 
If he has any at all, it is only that that has been bor- 
rowed from the whites. All he knows of the arts and 
sciences, of religion, of politics, of anything pertaining 
to intellectual life, he has borrowed from his white 
brothers. Being an imitative race, parrot-like, he says 
only what he has been taught to say, nothing more. 
Well, how much are we, claiming to be intelligences 
tinder white skins, in advance of the negro in this re- 
spect? Do we originate a single thought? Hardly. Do 
we not copy from all the past through which we have 
come? Certainly we do. Do not we pattern after every- 
thing that we happen to fancy? We certainly do. If we 
hear a great thought expressed, we make use of it, no mat- 
ter who expresses it, generally, unless prejudice forbids it. 

Farther on, the article seems to express the idea that 
Spiritualists make a very great mistake in believing that 
the negro is an immortal soul, and ends up by making 
reference to a spirit-message which he tells us he has 
received from a reliable source. The spirit informs him 
that all caste and color and grade of development, &c, 
are preserved intact in the spirit-world. Caste is attracted 
21 



322 FLASHES OF LIGHT, 

to caste, color to color, form to form, race to race, and 
so on. We are not able to quote the precise language, 
but we give the idea. 

Following that article there appears one from the editor, 
which in itself is rather ambiguous. He does not take 
any particular stand in it, that we are able to discover, 
but seems to carry the idea that if immortality means 
anything at all, it means a conscious individual existence 
after death. * There seems to be a feeling thrown out in 
the entire article that the white race alone has the crown- 
ing gift of immortality ; that we, God's favored, chosen 
ones, are alone endowed with eternal life ; that we, and 
we alone, possess and hold our individuality intact after 
death. Now I wish to make here a very broad and un- 
qualified statement, and it is this : according to the ac- 
cepted definition of the terms individuality and immortal- 
ity, we do not, any single one of us, possess immortality 
— not one of us. There never was an immortal spirit; 
there never will be one. Nature and Nature's God seem 
to have forbidden it. All intelligence seems to define 
individuality and immortality in one way — at least all 
that intelligence that is exhibited through physical life ; 
and more than that, this intelligence seems to connect 
the two inseparably together. They seem to have woven 
bands around their immortality and individuality, and will 
not allow them to be separated, when they are in fact 
distinctly separated, just as much so as the musician is 
separate from the instrument upon which he performs. 
It is a well-known scientific fact that we are constantly 
changing our individualities, and if a man or woman was 
to be measured spiritually by their individualities and the 
characteristics which they possess, and immortality is 
allied to that individuality — inseparably so — then we 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 323 

cannot be • immortal, because those individualities are 
constantly changing. We are not to-day what we were 
yesterday — not anyone of us. The individuality that 
belonged to us yesterday is not ours to-day. We do not 
think precisely to-day as we did yesterday ; we do not act 
precisely the same. We change constantly. Those who 
knew us in childhood only recognize us in mature age 
perhaps by our outward features, by our name, by those 
chisellings of physical life that may be recognized, but not 
by our thoughts, not by that which goes to make us in- 
telligent beings. Paul says, "When I was a child I 
spake as a child, acted as a child, but when I became a 
man I put away childish things ; " in other words, I 
changed my individuality. The mother who expects to 
meet her infant babe as a child in the spirit- world, after 
years have been added to it in that life, will be disap- 
pointed, for the child grows in form and in intellect. 
The old individuality it possessed with its baby life here 
has been added to again and again and again, till the little 
germ is entirely changed. Our immortality does not con- 
sist in form, or in the amount of intelligence we have, or 
in the particular kind of intelligence that~we are endowed 
with. What does it consist in, then? Why, that we 
have the gift of life, under some condition, forever and 
forever. 

By William E. Channing, July 20, 1869. 

Q. Will you define the knowing principle, conscious- 
ness? Tell us where it begins in the scale of Nature. 
And is not the consciousness in man the same as that 
which we observe in the lower order of animals ? And 
why should the consciousness of man have any more claim 
to immortality than that of the dog or horse ? 



324 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A.. The consciousness of the human has no more claim 
to immortality than that of the dog or horse, in my 
opinion. Each sphere of conscious life possesses its own 
distinctive kind of consciousness. We do not' part with 
our consciousness when we sleep — neither does the dog 
or the horse. The evidences that prove to the contrary 
are numerous.* We do not even enter a state where we 
part with all our consciousness — where we sleep, in the 
absolute. In our hours of deepest sleep, here in physical 
life, our spirits are conscious. There is an inner con- 
sciousness that never sleeps. The dog dreams, and de- 
monstrates the fact. Those who w r atch him can realize 
it. The horse dreams. If this is true with regard to 
these two animals, why not with regard to all the rest? 
Scientists who have investigated in that direction tell us 
it is true. It is not possible to define consciousness, ex- 4 
cept by saying we are awake to our surroundings. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 9, 1889.' 

Q. What is the actuating principle of the involuntary 
forces of the body ? If you say w Life," we ask, " What 
is it?" 

A. The body physical being possessed of two distinct 
sets of nerves, the voluntary and the involuntary, science 
tells us that the action of the subtle nervous aura, or force, 
when passing over the involuntary system, causes invol- 
untary action. In its play upon the voluntary system, it 
acts upon the brain ; its force is first applied there, and 
from thence it descends throughout all the voluntary 
nervous system. You may ask, " Is there any difference 
existing between the force that acts upon the voluntary 
and that which acts upon the involuntary nervous sys- 
tem? " I should answer, K No ; I believe them to be one 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 325 

and the same power." We may give as many names as 
we please, but after all it is one force. You call mag- 
netism and electricity two distinct forces. This is a mis- 
take — they are one. Seen under certain circumstances, 
you call them magnetism — under others, electricity. 
These terms must be used by you so long as you have 
need of them ; but as you go up in life, you will drop one 
after another, and come down to simplicity of expression. 
To-day you cannot understand it ; so you must have your 
magnetism, your electricity, your psychological forces, 
and a thousand and one terms for one and the same thing. 

Q. Are spirits enabled to behold the material universe 
independent of a medium through which to gain an en- 
trance to our plane of action? If so, are they not often 
rendered miserable in beholding the many sufferings and 
violations of law in this life ? 

A.. They are able to behold the material universe, but 
not in precisely the same sense that you behold it. You 
see that part of the universe that appeals to your bodily 
senses ; we see that also, but very dimly, unless we are 
in clear rapport with some physical organism called a 
medium. But we behold distinctly and clearly that which 
you do not recognize at all ; that is the tangible to us — 
it is the intangible to you. To us, in our pure spiritual 
state, aside from, mediumistic control, all the objects in 
life that you can recognize with your human senses are 
intangible to us ; they are shadowy ; while that which you 
cannot see or feel, is the real life to us. "Are they not 
often rendered miserable," asks the questioner, "in be- 
holding the many sufferings and violations of law in this 
life?" To a certain extent they are, but not without 
hope. It is not that kind of midnight gloom which some- 
times settles over the spirit in the earthly life. It is a 



326 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

keen, sharp pain, which leaves the spirit better for having 
passed through it. When we sometimes see our friends 
here in sorrow, we mourn with them — we shed tears 
over their sufferings. When we see them walking in 
paths of vice, which lead straight to the furnace of afflic- 
tion, we lament over them, but not without hope ; for we 
know that the spirit will finally overcome its weakness, 
and these scourges and whips will but have done their 
duty for them. Were they our children, we might 
mourn to be called upon to chastise them, and yet we 
might feel that it was best that we should do so. We 
may scourge in love, that the spirit may, through disci- 
pline, attain to fairer forms, and rise to better things. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Sept. 21, 1869. 

Q. Is it true that people are led into the wilderness 
by the spirit, as much as they were eighteen hundred 
years ago? 

A. I do not know why it should not be true. If 
mortals could be led by spirits then, I do not know why 
they cannot be to-day. 

Q. Do you not think we are led into the wilderness 
of doubt, and left therein by those in spirit-life? 

A. Sometimes. Spirits have as large a variety of 
means by and through which to work ■ upon mortals as 
the varying circumstances of the case demand. Every 
condition requires a different degree of action. 

Q. Are spirits possessed of greater knowledge than 
we in this life? 

A. Only by observation, research, and study. They 
have knowledge, because they have seen more, or heard 
more. You would have greater knowledge concerning 
London, if you had lived there fifteen years, than you 
now have. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 327 

Q. Yes, but not if I had just arrived there. Do 
spirits receive knowledge immediately on arriving in the 
spirit-world ? 

A. No ; knowledge is not shed upon us without 
efforts on our own part. It becomes precious to us only 
as it is hard to obtain. 

Q. Are spirits conversant with the affairs of this 
earth ? 

A. They are — some of them. 

Q. Why should some be, and others not? 

A. Because some are not interested in the affairs of 
this world. Some on earth are not interested in politics, 
and those who are are much better informed than they 
upon that subject. So in our life, those who are not 
interested in the affairs of earth do not know so much of 
them as those who are; 

Q. Do spirits know of the future of affairs pertaining 
to this world? 

A. Only by comparison. They know that certain 
effects will follow inevitably certain causes. And they, 
being able to see those causes, while you are not, can 
thus more readily perceive the future. 

Q. Then they know more than we do ? 

A. Life is a mathematical problem ; the past, pres- 
ent, and future are connected. They who understand the 
present clearly, and know the past, can judge very cor- 
rectly concerning the future. Astronomers can predict 
with positive certainty the approach of certain changes in 
the heavenly bodies. How can they do this? By study 
and mathematical demonstration ; by comparing the past 
with the present, and judging in connection with the fu- 
ture. Life, in the absolute, admits of no division ; the past 
and future are, in the absolute, the whole — the present. 



328 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Is not the information of one spirit available 
to all? 

A. To all who desire. 

Q. Then why cannot the whole history of the 
world, from its creation to the present time, be given 
to us? 

A. Because there are no instruments fitted for the 
work ? Why cannot you see the farthest star ? Because 
there are no instruments by which your eye can secure 
the knowledge. Not because the eye is not capable of 
seeing, if it had a telescope of sufficient power to aid it. 
It is because you have not the instruments to-day. 

Q. What do you mean by instruments? 

A. I mean persons who can receive in your life this 
knowledge, and reflect it in the same light. 

By Theodore Parker, Sept. 27, 1869. 

Q* We are told every person has a spirit- guide. If 
this is so, by whom or by what law are they appointed? 

A. It is to be supposed that every person dwelling 
here in physical life has some one spirit, if not more, 
who, in obedience to the law of want and supply, will be 
attracted to him or her. These spirits take a deep in- 
terest in them, and exercise a watchful care over the 
frailties of human life. Such would be considered guar- 
dian spirits. They are so by virtue of spiritual law ; they 
come to you, if at all, by spiritual attraction. All souls, 
as well as the atoms of life, are repelled from or attracted 
to each other, as the case may be, by fixed law. If a 
soul is drawn to you, it is drawn by law, fixed law, and 
becomes your guardian spirit by law. Love is an attri- 
bute of law, divine, perfect, and holy, and it is the av- 
enue by and through which your guardian spirits work. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 329 

They love you, hence they seek to do you good ; they 
come to you and watch over you. Because you are told 
that ^ach has a guardian spirit, you are not to suppose 
that they are always present, and never absent. They 
come when the law r of their being and yours demands 
that they shall come. Are you sick? You desire to be 
well, and your interior life instinctively and naturally 
extends out for something higher, beyond you, to make 
you better. It matters not whether it be the great God, 
or some kind spirit ; and this desire reaches out to these 
spirits, and they come to you because they love you. 
When the need is supplied, they leave you, and wait till 
the next occasion brings them to your side. 

Q. Does not the idea of a spirit-guide interfere with 
the freedom of our actions, and our responsibility to God? 

A. By no means ; because these spirit-guides are not 
your leaders. You may as well say that you are not re- 
sponsible beings, because you were not born such ; because 
you had fathers and mothers who diligently cared for you 
till you were well able to care for yourselves. These 
guardian spirits do not take away our responsibility or 
our individuality ; but they only aid us when we need aid. 
They are to us as supporters when we need them, but 
they are not our leaders. 

By Cardinal Cheverus, Oct. 4, 1869. 

Q. In this life some have good memories and more 
have poor memories. Can those of the latter class hope 
to be able in the future life to recall all that knowledge 
of history or science that they have once acquired, but 
seem to have totally lost ? 

A.. Each spirit possesses a distinct recollection of all 
its thoughts and of all its acts. It has an account of all 



330 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

it has experienced in all its past life, and of aM in its 
present life. Memory, with the spirit, is eternal. Those 
who have no large faculty or gift in that direction here, 
have it not because of physical deformity — physical 
want ; the bodily organs through which memory makes 
itself known are perhaps in an inactive state, so much so 
that the indwelling spirit cannot use them with success. 
But it is not so in the after-life ; every condition through 
which the spirit has passed is made a record of by the 
spirit, and that record is as eternal as the spirit is eternal. 
Q. What is the reason that spirits find such great 
difficulty to correct their errors of judgment in religion 
and philosophy in the future life, although their capacities 
are enlarged, and other more enlightened spirits are 
presumed to stand ready and willing to instruct them ? 
And are not our opportunities much better here than in 
spirit-life for acquiring knowledge of all kinds, as is to be 
inferred from the difficulty spirits seem to have in correct- 
ing their errors and changing their bad habits of thought 
and action ? 

A. "Presumed" — that word is well used. It is 
presumed, says your correspoudent, that enlightened 
spirits stand ready to assist the benighted who come from 
earth-life ; but be it understood that although enlightened 
spirits, upon all subjects, stand ready to give light to 
others, they are only suffered to impart in accordance 
with the law which controls them. When the benighted 
spirit asks in all honesty of soul for more light, and seeks 
for it, is ready to receive it, and make good use of it, 
then are they ready to give it. But if it were forced 
upon the darkened spirit, the old maxim of earth would 
be applicable here : — 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 331 

" The man convinced against his will 
Is of the same opinion still." 

Spirits do not find that difficulty in overcoming their 
erroneous opinions that you may suppose. You should 
not think that because they do not jump into immediate 
knowledge after death, they have a hard time to attain 
it. But it is the law of all spirits that they advance by 
slow and distinct degrees. There are no arches to span 
the gulfs over which spirits can march at will ; they 
must move forward by regular gradation ; they must 
ascend the ladder of human wisdom — no round being 
overlooked — ere they can pass out of darkness into light. 
The sun does not come immediately as the shades of 
night begin to disappear, and Nature moves in all her 
departments slowly and surely. Thus it is with the spirit. 

By Rev. Joseph Lowenthall, Oct. 5, 1869. 

Q. Ha3 the Indian become more progressive than 
the white? and for that reason are they exterminating 
the red man? 

A.. Spiritually, in an absolute sense, the Indian is far 
in advance of the whites. I know well "that the egotism 
of the white race will rise up and deny this assertion ; but 
there will come a time when the religions of the two will 
be weighed in the balances of Justice, and we well know 
which will be the sufferer. The pure, unadulterated re- 
ligion of the Indian will put his white brother and his 
religion to shame ; and when in yonder sphere the soul of 
the white man shall stand unclothed of all false surround- 
ings, it will see that the Indian's religion is far in advance 
of his own. The Indian has received his religion through 
the reasonings of his soul — that is the natural kind of 
religion ; that is unadulterated, pure, intuitive, free from 



332 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the world's uncomeliness. It has come to hini intui- 
tionally ; he sees God in all things, hears him in the 
winds, perceives his attributes in all the workings of 
Nature, which is his Bible — the Bible of God. I would 
that you with white skins had a religion as pure before 
God as that of the Indian. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 14, 1869. 

Q. Is it true that in the spirit-land we may pursue 
and follow out any branch of knowledge, whatever it may 
be, that has claimed our attention here, but which we 
have not been able to continue on account of the shortness 
of our stay here ? 

A. Yes, it is true. The bud that is blasted here 
blooms there. That which really belongs to us by soul- 
right, we can pursue there as a pleasure or as an employ- 
ment in the spirit- world. If the artist was such from his 
inner life — if he was such because he loved to be, not 
because external circumstances forced him to be — then he 
is an artist still, and all the circumstances that tended 
to cramp his efforts here are swept away there. He 
finds a larger range, greater liberty, more power. He 
finds that his artistic faculties unfold ; he has those which 
he did not know he possessed here. 

Q. Of what use will a knowledge of many languages 
be to me in a future life? I have a passion for and have 
labored hard to acquire them, and it would be a pleasure 
to me always to continue in the pursuit of that branch of 
knowledge ; but I am often led to inquire, Will a knowledge 
of different tongues be of any use to me in a future state, 
since spirits of all nationalities can understand each other 
simply by the reciprocal reading of mind or thought ? 

A. Language belongs to earth. It is the vehicle 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 333 

through which thought is expressed here in your life, 
but is not so in the spirit-world. . Therefore the acquire- 
ment of all the languages known would avail the student 
but little in the future life. 

Q. Are our every-day incidents and actions indicative 
of the future sphere to which our souls shall gravitate by 
the force of magnetic attraction ? 

jL. Yes ; we lay the foundation at least of our houses 
spiritual here in this life. All those croppings out of the 
spirit which we see in the characteristics of individuals, 
in their acts, in their words, in all that goes to make up 
their lives, moral and mental, is carried into the spirit- 
world, and becomes a part of their existence there. 

Controlling Spirit. — Our attention has been called 
to an article appearing in the "Livingston Herald," in 
answer to one that appeared in the " Banner of Light " 
some few weeks since. This article is entitled, "Has the 
negro an immortal soul?" The article which appeared 
in the "Banner of Light," upon that question, a few 
weeks since, was a criticism upon one which appeared in 
the "Livingston Herald" some time prior. The author 
then took the ground that the negro had no immortality, 
or, if he had any, it was only that which was borrowed from 
his white brothers, and he lost it at death. He had no 
soul apart from the soul of the white man. It seems that 
the authority of the ideas in question, namely, that the 
negro has no immortal soul, is a disembodied spirit, who 
comes to this life, and through mediumistic life gives 
his views with regard to the negro. In a note, from 
the editor probably, we are charged with evading the sub- 
ject of negro immortality in our article, and of being very 
careful not to say that he had an immortal soul ; that he 
lived after death. He charges us with elaborating upon 



334 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

general ideas and avoiding the point at issue, and winds 
up by saying it is evidently a new subject to us, and has, 
no doubt, taken us by surprise. Well, certainly, the 
negro is no new subject to me ; was not when I was here, 
and is not now. I do not propose to enter upon this sub- 
ject at any length, because I have not time. I only pro- 
pose this afternoon to make a statement, which, I trust, 
will be understood. Since I failed to make myself under- 
stood in the former article, I hope to be understood now. 

First, then, I would plainly and distinctly declare that 
I know that the negro possesses as much immortality as 
as I do. I know that he has an existence in the spirit- 
world ; that I meet him at every turn. I know that im- 
mortality does not depend upon black skins or white. 
How do I know it? As we know all things : by observa- 
tion, by study, by what we see, hear, and feel. When I 
meet and talk with the negro in the spirit- world, he is as 
much a disembodied spirit as I am. I know he lives 
there ; it is not a matter of speculation with me. If im- 
mortality were dependent upon the white race, or was the 
result, as "Hiskenean" says, of phrenological develop- 
ment, I should pity the God that made us, for he would 
have made a most egregious mistake. Immortality de- 
pendent upon phrenological development! Then we 
must go still farther. We must say our immortality, our 
soul-life, is dependent upon nature, upon form ; that we 
grow up out of nature ; and if we do, God does. If the 
soul in us is a result of natural development, then the 
God that protects us is a result of natural development. 

Now, I contend that spirit is prior to matter ; I con- 
tend that ere matter was, as such, spirit was ; I contend, 
also, that spirit is dependent upon matter for expression, 
but not for being ; I contend that immortality is depen- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 335 

dent upon matter for expression, but not for being; I 
contend that immortality, soul-life, is not dependent upon 
a white skin or a black, upon the phrenological develop- 
ment of the negro or the white man or woman. Why, I 
should descend very far down the steps of human science, 
I should forget that which has brought me to my present 
standard, I should ignore my God and the God of 
science, if I believed that immortality was dependent 
upon anything human. If our correspondent defines im- 
mortality as individuality is defined, why, then, of course 
he is right. It changes itself, of course, in expression. 
The immortality that is ours in expression to-day — now, 
mark us — that is ours in expression to-day, may not be 
ours in expression to-morrow, because the organic life 
through which immortality expresses itself is constantly 
changing. Therefore the expression must constantly 
change. But immortality, as immortality, is not depen- 
dent upon any change, upon anything in this world, upon 
anything in our world. Now, we should be very much 
pleased if this spirit, whether he be in or out of the body 
human, would come out from under his mask, and tell us 
who he was w T hen he lived here in thk earth-life ; tell us 
what his moral principles were ; tell us what he was 
politically ; tell us where he stood mentally ; then we 
shall be able to measure him — to know what he is worth, 
what his opinion is worth. If he still keeps under his 
mask, we cannot know. I never did like anonymous 
articles when I was here ; I do not like them now. I 
come out and declare myself to be Theodore Parker ; no- 
body else. I answered the article in question. Every- 
body know r s, that knows anything about me at all, what 
I believed when here. Everybody knows, that know r s 
anything about me as a disembodied spirit, that I hold 



336 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

very closely to some of my ideas that were born here. I 
have abandoned some, and have gained newer ones. But, 
again, let me distinctly declare, for fear I should be 
misunderstood, should be charged with again going round 
the subject, and evading the point at issue, "Has the 
negro an immortal soul?" yes, he has, emphatically. I 
know it, because I see him here in my life. I know it, 
because I come into spiritual rapport with him at almost 
every step I take. I labored hard to benefit him here in 
this life, and I still continue my labors in that that you 
call the spirit-life. God grant that I may long labor in 
that vineyard, for there is need of it. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 25, 1869. 

Q. Is it not true that highly cultivated men and wo- 
men, departed from earth-life, rarely find either pleasure 
or duty in returning to communicate with us ? and when 
they do so, it is a kind of self-denying, missionary spirit 
that prompts them so to do ; and by consequence, our 
communications through ordinary mediums seem ordina- 
rily of a low intellectual order — sometimes low in morals 
and good taste ? 

A. No, it is not true, in any one sense. It is abso- 
lutely untrue. Those who have passed from this earthly 
life long ages ago, who stand high in the spheres, whose 
brows are crowned with wisdom, and love, and power, 
are they who find their highest heaven, it may be, in re- 
turning to earth and preaching to you spirits who are in 
darkness, to you souls who are still present in mortal, to 
you who can scarcely peer beyond the veil and believe 
even in the future life. They come to keep alive that 
belief, to inspire you with faith, to give you in your inner 
life, at least, faint glimpses of the promised land. If it 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 337 

was not for their coming, the doors of your inner spiritual 
life would be securely closed. You receive their light, 
if any light at all, concerning the future state. You 
would all be in doubt. They come to you when you 
know it not ; they minister to your spiritual needs ; they 
strengthen your faith. The old earth-home is still bright 
to them, and however great may be the difficulties they 
labor under in returning, they are glad to war against 
them ; they are glad to find their feet pierced with thorns 
on returning ; they are glad to mingle again with earthly 
scenes, that they may lead you up to the plane where 
you can at least have faith in another life, and a strong 
hope that that other life will be better than this. 

Q. Have spirits the same name in heaven that they 
had on earth? 

A. Not always. Sometimes it is so, but generally it 
is otherwise. 

Q. How, then, can we know if they are the persons 
we inquire for? 

A. On returning here it is expected that they give 
the names by which they were known on earth. 

Q. Always ? 

A. Always. 

Q. What should I believe if a child on coming back 
said she was my daughter, and still called herself by an- 
other name — one that I never heard? 

A. If such a child had an earthly name, you should 
persevere in demanding that name. It is your right. In 
all probability, the child does not know it. In its expe- 
rience as a spirit, it may have lost that earthly name, but 
there are others who can give it information. Persist in 
your efforts to obtain it, and, in all probability, you will 
at last succeed. It is your right to have it. 
22 



3&8 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Will other spirits call that child by the name it 
had here on earth? 

A, jSTo, not necessarily; but they know — some one 
doubtless does in the spirit-world — what name it had 
here — what name you will know it by. 

Q. Do the evil deeds we commit here come to the 
memory in the spirit-life, and disturb our happiness? 

A. They do, most assuredly ; and that disturbance is 
more keen than it could by any possibility be here. 

Q. Is there any limit to the continuance of their un- 
happiness ? 

A. There is, but no general limit. When the soul 
has outlived the conditions that produced the mistake 
here, then the remorse will pass away. Evil is transient, 
and must pass away, w^hile goodness is permanent, and 
must ever remain. 

By William E. Channing, Oct. 26, 1869. 

Q. Does the use of tobacco injure the spirit, or spirit- 
body, in spirit-life ; and does it prevent the development 
of medium powers? 

A. There can come no permanent injury to the spirit. 
AH such that may seem to be injuries inflicted upon the 
spirit are but shadows that transiently fall upon it. 
Tobacco is one of those subtle poisons that prevent the 
soul, or mind, from giving a natural expression through 
the body. It so paralyzes the senses or keys of mortal 
being upon which the spirit plays in expressing itself in 
outer life, that it is impossible to use them naturally and 
perfectly. But as I before remarked, all the injury that 
it can do to the spirit is but transient. It can leave no 
permanent scar there, though the effect will be carried 
with the spirit to its future home, to that other life which 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 339 

belongs to it as a spirit ; but as the sun of the natural and 
divine love is shed upon it, these clouds will pass away, 
and you will see that the spirit is pure, untainted, and 
carries no scar. You ask, w Does it prevent the develop- 
ment of mediumship ? " Xo, it does not; but it does 
affect mediumship. We have the case of a medium,. 
Mr. Foster, in mind. Those who know him best; know 
that he is an inveterate smoker, makes large use of the 
poison, tobacco. And this, what may be called an evil, 
is permitted, excused, suffered to be, by his controlling- 
foreign spirits, those who come to him from time to time, 
to bear messages to their loved ones here. You may ask 
why. I answer, because in a strictly normal state he 
would be very hard to use as a medium. The power 
would be there. His mediumship, as such, would be 
just as well developed and unfolded as it is now, but 
those spirits who come to him to use those powers could 
not so readily use them, and so they are willing to come, 
even through a cloud of tobacco smoke — which, I assure 
you, is very offensive to them — that they may come to 
those who remain here and are in need of good ; those 
who are in the shadow and in need of light. They make 
sacrifices for you which, I am quite sure, you would be 
hardly willing to make for them. They lay aside all the 
loveliness and the pleasure of their beautiful homes be- 
yond the river of death that they may serve you ; they 
come ; they are your most humble servants ; they teach 
you, as best they may ; they answer your calls ; they 
cheer you in your sadness ; they assure you of another 
life ; they give you a hope beyond mortality, a solid real- 
ity that there is a better world than this, a condition of 
being where you will be freed from many of the oppres- 
sions that hang about you here in your mortal life. 



340 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Are the privileges for acquiring the natural sciences 
as good in the spirit-life as here? 

A.. When they relate especially to the things which 
can be recognized and measured and analyzed by your 
physical, mortal senses, then it is harder to become ac- 
quainted with sciences ; but when not especially related 
to the things of this life, but more intimately related to 
the spirit, then they have advantages far above you. 
Those who have made a certain branch of science their 
study here, who have mastered it, have laid for them- 
selves an ample foundation to carry on or build a struc- 
ture of beauty and power and strength in the other world. 
For instance, the geologist, who has mastered the science 
of geology, as relating to this life, goes to the spirit- 
world with the foundation well laid. He can go to work 
at once and rear a spiritual structure without any diffi- 
culty. There is not the impediment of poverty to hinder 
him ; he has no sickness to contend with there. He can 
travel as he pleases. He finds teachers at every turn in 
life, those who know more about the subject than he does. 
He has but to ask, and he receives. There are schools of 
science in our life which are far beyond your conception. 
You are in the alphabet of science, even as it relates to 
the things of this life, as yet. You know very little 
concerning your surroundings. The geologist cannot go 
very far down into the earth. To a certain distance he 
can go ; beyond that it is all speculation. When you 
consider that all that is in this life that you can recog- 
nize, everything that the earth contains upon its surface 
and under its surface, everything that the air contains, 
and all that is in the sea, all these have a spiritual exist- 
ence as well as a material, and that the spiritual is 
capable of being analyzed, challenges the science of the 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 341 

spirit- world to analyze it, — when you consider that, you 
will not wonder that I tell you that the science of life in 
the spirit-world is far beyond your human conception. 

By Theodore Parker, Oct. 28, 1869. 

Q. Is it not a misfortune, and detrimental to one's 
happiness and harmonious progress, to be a Spiritualist, 
philanthropist, or reformer — if he be poor, without the 
means and influence to correct the many disorders of 
society, and when the current of popular follies are too 
strong, rendering his efforts vain, and often carrying the 
reformer with them against his will ? 

A. So far as the things of this life are concerned, it is 
a misfortune, and a terrible one, because the philanthropic 
soul is constantly warring against that which he cannot 
overcome, and the hard conditions of fate are continually 
beating upon the soul. But there is another life than 
this, and he who was a reformer here — a good man or 
woman here — will carry that goodness with them to that 
other life. Then it is that all these difficulties, poverty, 
sickness, various inabilities that present themselves from 
day to day, will disappear. The highway will be open, 
and there will be no bridges over which the soul must 
pass where there are fees charged. Everything will be 
free, and the benevolent soul can outlive his benevolent 
desires, and cany on that which he could not here. That 
which was a misfortune here will constitute his highest 
heaven there. So cherish it, though it bring you thorns 
here ; hold it close to your hearts, and never let it go — 
carry it with you ; it will be a passport that will admit 
you to a high heaven hereafter. 

Q. Are we not endowed by our Creator with passions 
and appetites for legitimate and holy uses, and, therefore, 



342 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is it not wrong to be constantly decrying and denying the 
animal propensities, instead of controlling and directing 
them in their uses, as God evidently designed? 

A.. { All the lower functions of our human lives belong 
exclusively to the things of this world, to the needs of 
physical life, of body and sense ; and therefore they should 
be kept under proper subjection to higher ends, in sub- 
jection, if you please, to the moral law, to those functions 
of our nature that are pre-eminent above these animal 
functions.. The use of them is good, very good. That 
is rendering unto the things of this life what is due to 
them, but the abuse of them not only makes misery for 
you in this life, but so arrays your spirit in darkness in the 
other life, for a time at least, that it would hardly be 
well to allow them too much freedom. They were given 
each and all of us by the same power that gave us our 
moral faculties, our reason, and we should always allow 
reason, the highest light of our nature, the divinest wis- 
dom we possess, to guide and direct in all the lower needs 
that pertain to our lives, ignoring nothing, but directing, 
guiding, and giving each its proper place, a proper use and 
proper time. It is a great thing to know how to govern 
one's lower self. It is a divine thing, and when we shall 
all know how to do it we shall become gods in wisdom, 
in morality, in all that constitutes gods.^ 

By Theodore Parker, Nov. 1, 1869. 

Q. In a recent number of the Banner the spirits say 
this is the most perilous period of the world's history. I 
ask, do they refer to volcanic action, or to the action of 
human governments, as they affect the welfare of man? 

A. Their reference in that respect is general — refers 
to your spiritual and material — to the vital changes that 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 343 

you are passing through at this time. And as you are 
passing through changes, so is the earth. You have 
reached, religiously, politically, physically, and spirit- 
ually, a certain point, which will develop, as you pass 
beyond it, very great changes, which will reveal to you, 
as mortals and spirits, that which has never been revealed 
to you before. The earth and its products have been 
steadily rising in the scale of being till the present, and 
that present is pregnant with great changes. Marked 
changes are taking place amongst you to-day ; those still 
more marked are to come. The established religions of 
the world are about to be swept away, and the fine gold 
of good that there is in them is to be revealed. Those 
which have enough to perpetuate themselves in the future 
will do so ; those which have not will become extinct. At 
certain periods or cycles in the world's history, great 
changes have taken place. It always has been so ; it 
always, doubtless, will be so. As the earth has grown 
older, and man has become more mature, and the spirit 
has gathered to itself elements through which it can more 
perfectly express itself, you must expect that the changes 
that are upon you will be greater than all those that have 
preceded this time in the world's history. 

Q. Is there such a thing as sex of the soul, indepen- 
dent of sex of the body ; and if so, does it ever happen 
that male souls are incarnated in female physical forms, 
and vice versa^ 

A, The positive and negative forces of life, the male 
and female forces of life, are everywhere distinct in 
themselves until they reach such a high spiritual altitude 
that they are merged in one. It is then that the male 
and female become one in spirit, acting in divine har- 
mony with the God-spirit. They are then, to all intents 



344 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

and purposes, gods, male and female. In this sense, 
the male becomes the female, and the female the male, 
but in no other sense. 

Q. Will the time ever come in their spirit-life when 
such souls shall assume a spirit-form appropriate, in out- 
ward seeming, to their true sex? 

A.. Yes ; a law, divine and human, is constantly out- 
working itself through form, for the perfection of form, 
for the highest revealment of the God-life ; and what 
may be expected for one, — namely, perfection, — may 
be expected for all. 

By William E. Channing, Nov. 9, 1869. 

Q. Are there persons in the world who really desire 
and strive to reform, and yet are unable, from circum- 
stances and predisposition? 

Ji. Certainly ; we see such exhibitions almost every 
day. Circumstances over which we, as humans, have no 
control ofttimes environ us so that we cannot escape. 
We must obey their behest, whether we will or no. 
Certain conditions, forces ante-natal, are very rigid in 
their requirements. They lead us, as servants. They 
are our masters. And yet it is the soul's business to al- 
ways war against everything that tends to retard its 
flight upward. No matter whether it can overcome the 
thins: or not, it is its business to war with it, and it 
always will. 

Q. There are two kinds of Spiritualists. The first 
are those considerably devoted to natural science, know 
something of the principles of logic, and see nothing at 
all inconsistent or contrary to the laws of nature in the 
idea of the communion of spirits in the body with those 
out of the body. These are constantly on the alert to 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 345 

have given to them some conclusive demonstrative proof , 
according to those natural laws, of their faith ; but being 
very exacting, they seem generally to fail in obtaining 
that satisfaction. The other class seem to have no diffi- 
culty at all in satisfying their minds, although they have 
little knowledge of any kind, and no predisposition from 
reason in favor of spirit-communion. These last hav.e 
abundant evidences, while the former find them much 
scarper than ?f angel visits." Now, the question is, had 
not the former class better withdraw altogether from the 
search, and leave the field to the w babes and sucklings"? 
A. That w 7 ould be very much like mature age aban- 
doning the field of science to youth and babies. It is 
this first class that does the hard work in Spiritualism ; for, 
while they are oftener unsuccessful than they are success- 
ful, when they do chance to have success, it is generally 
in the right quarter. It is generally well balanced. It is 
generally well proven by facts in science that cannot be 
mistaken, while the other class, who require but little, 
and consequently search but little, go hardly beyond the 
surface. They only give you surface ideas, and only re- 
ceive surface ideas ; while the deep jthinker, the clear 
reasoner, one who demands the most perfect tests in this 
matter, are those who do the cause the most good. Re- 
tire? No ; your Spiritualism would die without them. 

By Cardinal Cheverus, Nov. 23, 1869. 

Q. We suffer here for the sins of our parents in the 
physical, mental, and spiritual parts of our nature. Do 
these predispositions follow us into the spiritual world, 
and are they there, also, a source of inharmony, annoy- 
ance, and discomfort to us? 

A.* It is written that the sins of the fathers are 



346 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

visited upon the third and fourth generations ; and we 
may go to still greater lengths : all physical sin, or that 
evil or disease which is the result of physical mistakes, 
does not follow the spirit past the boundaries of human 
life ; it belongs to the body, therefore falls when the body 
falls. But all that which you call sin, which had its rise 
in the mental, will be carried by the thinking spirit to the 
spirit-world. It belongs to the thought-kingdom of the 
individual, and to the kingdom of the spirit; therefore it 
lives after death. 

Q. Is it wrong to lie, in reply to a designing ques- 
tion intended to intrap us by admission, or convey the 
required impression or information by silence? 

4. A lie is such by virtue of the motive that prompted 
it. It is not always the highest wisdom to speak what 
you consider to be absolute truth ; it is sometimes wise to 
conceal that which is asked for. When an answer is 
given to any question in the negative that truth would 
decide should be given in the affirmative, the evil, or that 
which you call the lie, would consist in the motive. If 
that was good, then there could be no evil ; and if it 
were not good, then it would give birth to a child or 
thought corresponding with itself. 

By Theodore Parker, Nov. 30, 1869. 

Q. There is ample scope for the exercise of all our 
faculties in spirit-life, so we are told ; but is there scope 
for the exercise of the craft of the politician, the malice 
and control of the tyrant, and the ambition of a Xerxes 
or Napoleon ? 

A. Yes, there is liberty in all those several directions ; 
but here, in the spirit- world, spirits are very soon edu- 
cated to know that whenever they injure another, they 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 347 

injure themselves correspondingly. Whatever they do 
that is detrimental to the happiness of another, is corre- 
spondingly detrimental to their happiness. So they very 
soon learn to be careful in all their doings towards their 
fellow-creatures. 

Q. Does this result immediately ? 

A. Very soon ; for education begins at birth there, 
as physical education begins at physical birth here. 

Q. Does the law of " might makes right " prevail to 
any extent in spirit-life? 

A. The law of right is better understood in the spirit- 
world than here, and spirits are more desirous of acting 
under the rule of the law of right than under the rule of 
the law of might, for they are never safe there. It may 
turn and rend them at any moment. 

Q. Is not the faculty of secretiveness a form of selfish- 
ness? 

A. No ; it may be very nearly related to selfishness, 
but is by no means a form of selfishness. 

Q. Is life in the spirit-world a continual strife, tur- 
moil, and self-defence, as in the earth-life? 

A. For a time it is, till the spirit has outgrown earthly 
propensities, outlived them, gone beyond them. 

Q. Shall we, who have been born into this earth-life, 
ever find another home than this sphere ? 

A. It is quite certain that your strongest attractions 
will be here ; so you may infer that your home will be here. 

Q. Where are spirits located after they have thrown 
off the mortal body ? 

A. Anywhere and everywhere. Wherever there is 
life, there is the spirit-world — there spirits dwell. 

Q. Do we ever outgrow our attractions for this earth- 
home ? 



348 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. So far as this material life is concerned, you will 
outgrow them ; but there are spiritual attractions that it 
is hard to go beyond. 

Q. Do spirits who have passed away within a year or 
two have power to communicate with those who passed 
away thousands of years ago ? 

A. They have. 

Q. Why is it that some can see spirits while in their 
mortal bodies, and others cannot? 

A. Some are so chemically organized, that, under cer- 
tain chemical conditions, they can see spirits, or the cloth- 
ing that covers the spirit — not the spirit. It is simply a 
chemical difference that exists between human bodies. 

Q. Is that clothing made up of chemical particles of 
matter? 

A. Yes, it is. 

Q. Is the spirit itself matter? 

A. So etherealized as not to be, under any circum- 
stances, apparent to human senses. 

Q. Can this spirit-body be seen with our natural eyes, 
or in a different way ? 

A. No man, woman, or child, hath ever seen a spirit 
at any time, or under any circumstances. They have only 
seen the outer covering of the spirit? 

Q. Is that seen with the natural eyes? 

A. Sometimes with the natural eye, sometimes with 
the clairvoyant eye, or second (inner) sight. 

Q. Some assume that they converse with spirits. Is 
that done orally ? 

A. Sometimes ; but oftener mentally. 

Q. Sacred history records the communion of Saul 
with the woman of Endor. Was she like the mediums 
of the present day ? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 349 

A.. Yes, precisely the same. The woman of Endor, 
who called up the spirit of Samuel, was a medium, such 
as you have amongst you at the present day. 

Q. By what process does the spirit change its locality ? 

A. It exercises its will, which becomes the vehicle 
to convey it from one point to another. The spirit glides 
through the air as light or sound passes through the at- 
mosphere. 

Q. Does it take its spirit-body along? 

A. Certainly it does ; for without that it could not 
express itself — the spirit could give no expression with- 
out matter. 

Q. Can our departed friends return and aid us in any 
way? 

A. That is a self-evident fact- — at least, a fact to 
myself. They can return — can aid you in all the various 
avocations of this life. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 6, 1869. 

Q. Does each one of us have a guardian spirit ? 

A. In all probability each one of you have many, 
since it is to be expected that you have^each one, perhaps 
more than one, friend in the spirit- world, who is anxious 
for your welfare, who would be true to you, desiring to 
do you good. 

Q. How can we know ? 

A. You may never know while here in the body. 

Q. Do they watch over us for our good? 

A. If they love you and are your friends, they cer- 
tainly w T ill watch over you for your good. 

Q. Will they direct us in the right way ? 

A, So far as they are able to ; but their power is 
finite, like vour own. 



,350 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Can spirits who lived two thousand years ago 
come back to earth and see the advancement in science ? 

A. Yes ; there are many who return communicating 
with you, who have been away thousands of years. 

Q. Can they see the progress that has been made in 
science ? 

A. Sometimes they do. - It depends very much upon 
how much they are interested in those things. 

Q. Are our guardian spirits necessarily our earthly 
relatives ? 

A. O, no; anyone who finds profit or pleasure in 
your mental or spiritual sphere may become your guar- 
dian spirit. 

Q. Are they supposed to be with us continually, or 
only occasionally? 

A. They are not always with you. 

Q. How do we know when they are? 

A. You may not always know, unless you are sus- 
ceptible to spirit-influence. Then you will be very likely 
to know. 

Q. Must we not be very yielding to spirit-influence 
in order to know ? 

A. Yes, you should be negative, passive, ready 
to receive whatever good may be ready to come to 
you. 

Q. Are any spirits so low that they cannot communi- 
cate with their friends ? 

A. Yes, there are many who are so low they have no 
special desire to communicate with their friends, and 
therefore do not. 

Q. What hour is best adapted to communing with 
unseen intelligences ? 

A. The hour that you are the most quiet, most free 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 351 

from earthly annoyances ; whether it be by day or night, 
it matters not. 

Q. When we first become unconscious in this world, 
do we at that moment wake to consciousness in the spirit- 
world ? 

A. Not always. Sometimes souls remain unconscious 
for years, for centuries. 

Q. Why is it? 

A. The reasons are various. Sometimes those reme- 
dies given in sickness cast such a blight or shadow over 
the spirit that it cannot throw them off for a long time 
after entering the spirit-world. A variety of narcotics 
that are used will often do this. 

Q. Then are not the spirit and mind two things, two 
beings or substances ? 

A. To me the spirit is the inner life. The mind may 
be called the glass through which the spirit reflects its 
deeds, its purposes. Mind is the result of physical forma- 
tion, while spirit is not. 

Q. Do not some spirits return very soon after death ? 

A. Yes, almost before you are aware that they have 
departed. .__ 

Q. Do our spirit-friends know what we are doing in 
this world ? 

A. They very often do know your most secret 
thoughts. 

Q. Will they do anything we ask of them, if it is 
for our good? 

A. Not always. That depends upon conditions, as 
they exist with you or with the spirit who desires to aid 
you ; upon conditions in the atmosphere, spiritual and 
material, surrounding you and surrounding them. 

Q. Cannot spirits read our thoughts at any time ? 



352 FLASHES OF LIGHT. 

A. Not always, but they very often can. 

Q. Is not the race of North American Indians des- 
tined to become extinct? 

A. So far as earthly existence is concerned, I believe 
that is their destiny. But they live in the spirit- world, 
a nation more powerful and grand than you have any 
idea of. 

Q. What is the condition of the Indian race in the 
spirit-world as compared with the white race? 

A. The Indian lives nearer to Mother Nature, conse- 
quently nearer to God, than his white brothers. His 
white brothers have sought out many inventions, and 
have followed largely after them. His white brothers 
live more in art than in Nature, and are therefore farther 
from their Mother, Nature, and their Father, God. In 
intellectual attainments, of course the white man is far 
superior to the Indian, because they are based more upon 
art than Nature. 

Q. Is the negro capable of being on the same level 
of intelligence as the white man ? 

A. In my opinion the negro has capacities which, 
when unfolded, would stand side by side with our own. 

Q. You say the Indian lives nearer God than the 
white man. Is he happier in the spirit- world ? 

A. Generally he is. 

Q. Why are they permitted to become extinct? 

A. That we cannot tell, except it is their destiny — 
written in the book of their fate. 

Q. Can that destiny be changed by the angel-world 
exerting an influence on the Government to protect them ? 

A. Large efforts have been made in that direction. 
If they are crowned with success, perhaps the tide will 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 353 

turn. If not, we may feel quite sure that the end that is 
coming will not turn aside for us. 

Q. What is the difference of the origin of the white 
and the black man? 

A. None whatever ; at least I have been able to find 
no difference — to draw no line of demarcation between 
the essential of the white man and the essential of the 
black man. 

Q. Which race is the oldest? 

A. That is hard to determine. Some authors declare 
that the negro had an existence on this planet long before 
the white man. I should be inclined to doubt that. I 
think it is the reverse. 

Q. Is it true, as some contend, that the older the 
race, the higher in intellect? 

A. I do not think it is. The Chinese, as a people, 
are very old; but, except in certain directions, we know 
they are far below other races much younger than them- 
selves. 

Q. Do the spirits of our departed friends know about 
us at any time they wish ? 

A. No, they do not possess absolute power to come 
whenever they may wish. They are governed by law 
and circumstances, and these do not always favor their 
coming. 

Q. Can all of our spirit-friends come some time or 
other ? 

A. I think so. I think there is a time for all. 

By John Pierpont, Dec. 7, 1869. 

Q. Suppose an individual has inherited or is pos- 
sessed of a strong inclination to steal, commit suicide, or 
murder ; is it possible to outgrow such inclinations without 
23 



354 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

actual commission of the deeds, either in earth or spirit- 
life? If so, please point out the principles and means by 
which such result is reached. 

A. We may have certain germs of evil implanted in 
us, but they may never come to maturity, or find an ex- 
hibition in the external world, unless circumstances shall 
be thrown around them to favor their coming forth, to 
foster their development. w To be forewarned is to be 
forearmed," said a certain writer ; and I believe that is a „ 
truthful utterance. It is our duty, as immortal spirits, 
to make ourselves acquainted with ourselves, externally 
and internally, at as early a period as possible. Just as 
soon as we are able to receive instruction, it is our duty 
to seek for it. And if we find that any of these germs 
of evil are implanted in our natures, it is our duty to use 
all possible means to destroy them ; and we can do it 
only in one way, and that is, by denying those conditions 
under which they can be unfolded. When you have cer- 
tain organs that are poorly developed, what do you do? 
Why, you seek to develop them — you cultivate them. 
If you do right, you do this. You throw around them 
those conditions that are most favorable to development. 
If you have others over-active, you seek to take away 
those conditions which foster their development. If you 
can do this, in your phrenological unfolding, you certainly 
can do it throughout all the different departments of your 
physical life. If those germs of evil are unmistakably 
implanted in your nature, if you are only wise enough to 
know of their being, you can do something towards re- 
straining them from coming into actual life. The wise 
husbandman would not allow his garden to be overrun 
with weeds, but when he sees one coming into being he 
plucks it out. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 355 

Q. Is it necessary that these germs be developed in 
the next world? 

A. No, it is not necessary. These things belong es- 
pecially to this mundane life. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec 9, 1869. 

Q. How do you explain the fact that a spirit will give 
a message through one medium, and afterwards, in con- 
trolling another, will have no recollection of having 
spoken through the first medium? 

A. Allow me to illustrate. I am here speaking to 
you through a certain special organism, and if I remem- 
ber what I say at all, I remember it through the power 
of that organism, and no other. I am dependent, so far 
as my thoughts and words are concerned while in control, 
upon that organism, but when I come forth from it I do 
not carry memory with me concerning that which has 
transpired in that organism ; it remains with it, and I can 
only fully ca.ll up the events that have transpired through 
that organism, in relation to myself, by coming into rap- 
port with it again. I can do it through no other, be- 
cause the law 7 opposes me. I mustact upon the same 
ground, through the same organic life, to remember the 
events that transpired there. 

Q. Then you will not recollect anything that occurs 
to-day, after leaving this medium, while you remain 
away ? 

A. I do not say that I shall not remember in my 
spirit, for I shall ; but I cannot project that memory 
through another organism than the one through which the 
events transpired. 

Q. Are there not cases where it may be projected, to 
some extent, through a second medium? 



356 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. O, yes ; but fragmentary, therefore in an unreli- 
able manner. 

Q. Do spirits, in passing from one plane to another, 
pass through anything analogous to physical death here? 

A. O, yes; we part with our spiritual bodies when 
they can no longer be of service to us. 

Q. Is it done at any particular period of time, or 
gradually ? 

A. No ; decay of the spiritual body comes on gradu- 
ally, and when we can no longer use it well — can no 
longer make it serve us — we part w T ith it, and there is a 
spiritual chemical separation. 

Q. Is there an organized form left ? 

A. There is an organized spiritual form, unseen to 
human eye, but it is there, nevertheless. 

Q. Left behind in the progress of the spirit ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. It is often said by those familiar with the writings 
of Theodore Parker, and with his utterances in this life, 
that there is a great falling off in what we receive from 
him now. Is this so? and can you explain it? 

A. Well, I should not so determine, only as I look 
at it from an earthly stand-point. If Theodore Parker 
has changed his view r s since living apart from human life, 
of course, if he comes, if he returns at all, with the re- 
flection of the change, and if that does not suit his old 
hearers, of course he has fallen from grace, in their opin- 
ion ; in other words, is not up to the high mark, accord- 
ing to their judgment. 

Q. Is there no other reason ? 

A. Yes, there is ; since Theodore Parker nor any 
other spirit ever has been, nor, in all probability, ever 
will be, able to find an organism precisely like their own, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 357 

of course their spirits must of necessity be measured by 
the organism through which they express. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec. 28, 1869. 

Q. Spirits generally tell us that in Summer-Land 
what a person wants comes by wishing for it. Please 
explain this. You say, for instance, if a spirit wants to 
go from one place to another, he merely wishes to go, and 
is there. From a material plane this is incomprehensible. 
Can you make it understood by any plane of thought? 
Do spirits never have to struggle, to bear burdens, to suf- 
fer defeat, to enjoy conquest? Do they never have to 
plan out their work, to contrive how to do this and that? 
Is spirit-life merely wishing, and no working? If so, 
then I think it not much of a life, after all. 

A. To wish for a thing, in the spirit-world, is to act 
in conjunction with the law that will bring it to the soul 
wishing for it. In soul-life the soul never wishes for any- 
thing without putting forth all its powers to obtain it. 
The world of mind is the world of causes ; the world of 
matter is the world of effects. You here see through a 
glass darkly ; we there see face to face. The law is more 
clearly understood to the spirit who has passed beyond the 
shadow called death ; he has done with using the organs 
physical ; therefore, knowing the law better, he can make 
better use of it. To you, in most instances, the law is 
beyond your vision ; you feel, you believe it exists, be- 
cause you have evidence that it does ; but you do not 
know — you cannot grasp it as you can after death. Af- 
ter death, should the soul wish for a certain thing, that 
proves that the soul has need of it. And more than that : 
the wish cannot be born m the soul without the soul's 
putting forth all its powers to obtain it. And by putting 



358 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

forth all its powers, I mean that it places itself in har- 
mony .with the law — acts in harmony with it ; conse- 
quently the result must be favorable. 

Q. In observing the phenomenon of death, generally, 
it is much alike in both men and animals. Now, in both 
(cases, it is more like the extinction of life than the birth 
of a soul. Why, if a soul goes out at death, cannot we 
get at it in some tangible way, and demonstrate it not 
only to Spiritualists, but everybody? 

A.. Simply because you do not go the right way to 
work to do it ; because, in your ignorance, you set up a 
way by which you desire to obtain it, and it is not the 
right way. Human sense cannot, by any possibility, be 
thoroughly cognizant of spirit. You see it in its mani- 
festation, and in that alone ; and when this ceases, you 
have no more proof that it exists. But there is a power 
outside of physical sense, which you may make use of, 
if you will. You have spiritual senses which even here, 
in this life, you can use to great advantage. These spirit- 
ual senses can follow the soul beyond death, and learn 
what its condition is ; but you fear to exercise this spirit- 
ual sense, because your religion has taught you to do 
otherwise. It is high time you had a religion that be- 
longed more especially to the soul. 

By Theodore Parker, Dec 30, 1869. 

Q. Modern scientific discoveries go to prove that the 
imponderable agents, such as heat, light, electricity and 
magnetism, which were formerly considered as separate 
fluids, are simply modes of motion ; and inasmuch as all 
we know of anything we know through motion, has 
suggested the idea that all so-tailed matter, all the differ- 
ent objects which constitute the external world, are 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 359 

simply so many different modes of action of one and 
the same all-pervading element ; that all matter is so 
many different forces acting and reacting upon and with 
each other, and producing all the phenomena of the 
physical universe ; that, these forces being spiritual or 
intelligent in their origin, material things are simply 
thought-forces becoming fixed and congealed, as it were, 
so as to be palpable to the external senses. What are 
your ideas upon this subject? 

A. Precisely the same as your correspondent's, 

Q. Are the white races that now occupy the territory 
of America in any way influenced by its previous occu- 
pants, the red Indians? Does the race of the red man, 
either past or existing, really affect the white man ? 

A. You are affected by the magnetic life that the 
Indian has left on the earth — largely affected by it ; and 
in turn he, as a spirit, is largely affected by the magnetic 
life that he draws from you as spirits in body human. 

Q. Are our friends that have passed from this life 
hindered by the extreme grief of their friends? 

A.. They are. Your grief for those who have passed 
beyond your sight holds them — sometimes, not always, 
but generally it holds them within the sphere of your own 
melancholy thoughts, and they cannot pass from this till 
you rise out of that melancholy condition. 

By William E. Channing, Jan. 10, 1870. 

Q. I wish to ask our spirit-friends if they cannot and 
will not, with other inestimable favors, give to suffering 
mortals a substitute for opium, or such instructions as 
will enable them to free themselves from its habituil 
use. I sincerely ask this, not only on my own behalf, 
but that all others who believe in spirit-guidance mzy 



360 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

share the blessed boon freely. If I have not taken a 
proper course to obtain such information, I beg you will 
pardon the error, and indicate the correct way. 

A. The application of magnetism properly, not im- 
properly, is destined to do away with all narcotics as 
remedial agents. They are at present an absolute neces- 
sity to human ignorance. But when ignorance shall 
have given place to knowledge, the veriest child will 
know how to use the magnetic powers with which every 
single human body is endowed. You all hold within 
your grasp all the remedial agents that you have need of, 
but you do not know how to use them. Disease being an 
imponderable, it can best be treated by the application of 
an imponderable. That all-powerful force which you call 
magnetism, holds within itself the power to harmonize 
all the forces of the human body — to prevent disease. 
When disease, or inharmony, — which is the same, — has 
found an abiding-place in the physical form, magnetism 
has the power to eradicate it, to overcome it ; not only to 
subdue it, but to entirely overcome it ; but the time for 
these things is not yet. You are standing, to-day, upon 
the threshold of this new science. It has always been 
with yOu, but because of its simplicity men and women 
have considered it of no account. But the time is fast 
speeding when you will understand what disease is, and 
what is its remedy. You will also know how to apply 
the remedy. But you grow slowly, and you can grow no 
faster than the earth grows. Were we to be endowed, 
this hour, with infinite wisdom, it would be of small 
account to us, because we are not ready for it. We must 
giiow up to a condition fit to receive it, to use it well, 
erb it can come to us. So humanity must buffer a while 
longer ere the angel of healing can come perfectly to your 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 361 

conscious lives, and teach you what you so earnestly 
desire to know in the present. 

By Theodore Parker, Jan 11, 1870. 

Q. Why is God called Father and Mother? 

A. Simply because we have found no better terms by 
which to convey our idea of the all-sustaining principle 
that cares for us throughout all eternity, has brought us 
into being, and protects us with the wisdom of a father 
and the love of a mother. They are only terms used to 
convey the idea to human sense. 

Q. Is the resurrection of some spirits completed be- 
fore that of others ? 

A. Yes ; it is a rare circumstance that the spirit is 
thoroughly and absolutely free from the body and its law 
till the third day. It requires just about so much time 
to withdraw all the electric forces or the magnetic spirit- 
body. Sometimes it is performed quicker, but not often. 
So have a care how you place your bodies under the soil 
before the third day of what you call death. 

Q. Does any of our other treatment of corpses inter- 
fere with the complete separation of the spiritual form? 

A. Yes ; the abandoning of the body immediately 
after death into the hands of strangers, — those who have 
no particular sympathy with the new-born spirit. It 
chains them more closely to the body, because the spirit 
has not abandoned its care of the body. It cannot so 
readily do it when it has been thrown into the hands of 
strangers. Friends, those who loved the indwelling 
spirit best, should perform these sacred duties always. 
Remember that, every one of you. 

Q. Does the practice of putting dead bodies on ice 
have any effect on the spirit? 



362 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

A. If they are placed upon ice before the third day, 
it certainly does have a very bad effect. 

Q. What is the effect ? 

A. It produces positive distress to the spirit. It re- 
tards the natural process of chemical dissolution. You 
interfere with the operation of Nature's law, and because 
of that interference, inliarmony ensues, which the spirit 
feels most acutely, I can assure you. 

Q. It sometimes seems necessary to do this very 
soon after death. 

A. I know, for the protection of physical life, it is 
absolutely necessary to do this. In those cases, perhaps, 
it would be better that the spirit suffer than that many 
spirits here, together with their physical bodies, should 
suffer. But under ordinary circumstances, this should 
not be. 

Q. Can you retain the spirit longer in the body by 
freezing the body ? 

A. No, certainly not. 

Q. Do post mortem examinations previous to the 
third day produce distress? 

A. It is an interference with the natural and quiet 
operation of the law — not in precisely the same, but in 
a similar way. And again, the introduction of poisons 
into the venous system for the purpose of preserving the 
form, has a very bad effect upon the spirit, if performed 
before the third day, or before the spirit has entirely sep- 
arated itself from that body, be it the third, fourth, or 
tenth day. 

Q. How does the rapid decay of the body, as it takes 
place in warm weather, affect the release of the spiritual 
form ? 

A. It accelerates it. It is one of Nature's means, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 363 

under certain circumstances, to accelerate the resurrection 
of the spirit from the body. 

Q. Is death by drowning, and the submerging of the 
body for a considerable time, a process that retards the 
separation of the spiritual form ? 

A. No. 

Q. Does the separation of the spirit-body from the 
physical form require a longer time when the body is 
bruised ? 

A. No ; it requires no longer time, but it is performed 
under more difficult circumstances, and if the spirit is 
conscious of these circumstances — and it generally is — 
it is painful to the spirit. 

By Father Henry Pitz James, Jan. 18, 1870. 

Q. Our spirit-friends inform us that the present is the 
most momentous and perilous period of the world's his- 
tory, but leave us in the dark as to the natural forces that 
are producing the crisis. Can the spirit- world enlighten 
us upon the subject more in detail ? 

A. It is, indeed, the most momentous, at least since 
the Christian era dawned, because it— holds within itself 
so great an influx of spiritual truth which acts in religion, 
in philosophy, in all the arts and sciences with which you 
are engaged, that it is in one sense overturning the 
world, mentally and socially. Now, every effect has its 
cause. What is the cause of this? Why, your human 
minds and bodies unfold in correspondence with the 
growth of the earth. The earth has grown into that 
condition materially, as to be able to sustain your con- 
nection with those great spiritual truths that are finding 
manifestation through human bodies all over the land. 
The time was, when these truths could not be uttered. 



364 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

They were in the air; they were all about you, but there 
was nothing by which they could be expressed, because 
the earth, your mother, had not the power to sustain you, 
physically, in the expression of those truths with which 
the very air was filled. But in the present, your mother 
earth is able to sustain you, therefore you are able to 
give expression to those truths. And what will be the 
result? Why, the Christian era must die. It has lived 
nearly its appointed time. It has performed its mission, 
and even now the angels are calling it hence. Mourn 
not over your' idol, for the Father doeth all things well ; 
and he hath done well in this. Shall he leave you with- 
out a comforter? No; but he will give you the com- 
forter which is found in the holy spirit of the new revela- 
tion. You have it with you the present hour. It has 
found a resting-place all over the earth. Wisdom never 
tears down till it is ready to build again. It leaves no 
waste, desert places. It is always ready to build more 
beautiful structures upon the ruins of the old. Your 
religion has served you well ; but to-day you are living 
in the very vortex of change — religious change ; and as 
you live socially, politically, mentally, and morally, by 
your religious beliefs, we can see at once how great an 
effect it must have upon you when the change takes 
place. 

Q. In what condition does a spirit appear on entering 
the spirit- world, after having lived on earth to a good old 
age ? or of one who dies in childhood ? Do they appear 
the same externally there as here? 

A. The child enters the spirit-world as a child, be- 
cause its growth has not been perfected, either in stature 
or in mind. But the old man enters it, not as an old 
man, but as a fully developed spirit, corresponding to 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 365 

what he was at mature life here. /The conditions of old 
age belong to earth, and not to spirit-life. 

Q. Are there such conditions as heat and cold, hun- 
ger and thirst, in spirit-life ? 

A. There is what corresponds to those conditions that 
are known to you, in spirit-life, but it is not precisely 
that hunger, thirst, heat, and cold which the physical 
body recognizes. It is a spiritual something equivalent 
to that ; a something that appeals to the spiritual senses, 
but does not to the physical senses. 

Q. What does the spiritual sense of hunger require ? 

A. It would be absolutely impossible for me to clearly 
demonstrate it to you, because there is nothing by which 
I could demonstrate it. Spiritual things are to be spir- 
itually discerned. It is a sense of want of spiritual sus- 
tenance. The spirit-body recognizes its losses, and the 
need to make up for them by obtaining sustenance from 
such food as is adapted to the spirit. 

Q. I supposed that spiritual hunger was the counter- 
part of physical hunger, and required spiritual food. 

A. So it does — so it is the counterpart of physical 
hunger. 

Q. You speak of having trees and fruit as we have 
here. I supposed spirit-hunger to require such food. 

A. Yes, you are right. 

Q. It was hunger in that special sense that I under- 
stood the first questioner to mean, not a mere general 
sense of want. We have that general sense of want 
here, and we have also the special hunger for something 
to satisfy the stomach. We sometimes hear of a spirit 
with a great thirst for liquor, seeking for a medium by 
which to gratify it. Will you explain this? 

A. It certainly is so. He has that thirst because he 



366 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

is as yet in rapport with some physical form here which 
is addicted to the same excess. He is attracted to that 
form because there is a shadow upon his spirit that has 
been thrown there by the life he led here. He returns, 
and perchance comes in contact with some media who 
naturally have no inclination that way. But he throws 
his desire upon them, because as soon as he comes in 
contact with physical life his desire becomes intense. He 
psychologizes his subjects, and satisfies the desire through 
them. It is generally not repeated ; once suffices, and 
he rises redeemed from that condition of earthly thral- 
dom. 

Q. Do spirits eat the fruit of their fruit trees ? 

A. They do. 

Q. Then is not the hunger by which they crave if 
analogous to the hunger of our bodies here? 

A. Yes, it is. 

Q. Then they do have the hunger and thirst that we 
have here ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Does the denial of that desire cause discomfort to 
the spirit, as it does to us ? 

A. Yes ; but fortunately for the spirit, the law of 
mine and thine is not in existence in the spirit-world. 
There is plenty for all there, as there is here. Your false 
customs make it right for one person to have more than 
enough, while his neighbor is starving. It is not so in 
the spirit-world, but the blessings of the Infinite Spirit 
are free for all, and no one can claim more as their own 
than they can well appropriate. There is no hoarding 
there ; you can have all you need, but no more. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 367 

By Thomas Paine, Jan. 20, 1870. 

Q, It is worthy of notice that Indian spirits, on their 
return, so far as we are able to judge, exhibit a greater 
amount of truthfulness, and express less regret of their 
conduct in earth-life, than spirits who have passed from 
what is denominated highly civilized and refined society. 
How is this? Are civilization, education, and so-called 
refinement detrimental to spiritual progress ? 

A. That the Indian lives nearer to Nature, and thus 
nearer to Nature's God, is a well-attested fact. They 
demonstrate this fact as they return from the other life to 
you, and they demonstrate it here, before they pass on to. 
that other life. Could you live with them in their homes 
and become thoroughly acquainted with them, you would 
see that they live nearer to Nature and to Nature's God 
than you do. Civilization is the result of art. The more 
civilized you are, the farther you are from Nature. The 
Indians who return to you are more truthful, and for this 
cause : they are more simple. They tell you their story 
in their own simple language ; they make use of no art ; 
they do not clothe their ideas so that you cannot under- 
stand them ; they have no desire to mislead you — no 
motive to carry you away from the truth ; they intuitively, 
in the other life, feel your need of truth, and feel as in- 
tuitively that they are to become the agents in the hands 
of the Great Spirit to lead you to truth ; they feel that 
the Great Spirit has bestowed many blessings upon you 
that he has withheld from them, but they are anxious to 
tell you what the Great Spirit has done for them — what 
they see — by what they are surrounded — how they live 
in the other life; and they tell it in- such a plain, simple 
manner, that you cannot misunderstand them. 



368 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. The writer knows a lady medium in New York 
who has a small dog that will never rest while she is giv- 
ing seances, except in her lap, or behind her, in the chair. 
She states that when she herself, or her son (the only 
other member of the family), is sick, this dog is always 
sick, too, and exhibits symptoms of a like malady. An 
Indian spirit, who sometimes controls the medium, avers 
that the dog is a spirit-medium.. Will the controlling 
influence please throw some light on the matter, if prac- 
ticable, and oblige one who has at length learned that it is 
not safe to deny anything outside of pure mathematics, 
and hardly then ? 

A. Everything, from the smallest atom to the largest 
body in life, is a medium for spirit — everything- — and 
the higher you rise in the scale of human progress, or 
natural being, the larger and more perfectly defined are 
the mediumistic qualities of the thing, the individual, the 
animal, the atom, it may be. It is absolutely useless, in 
these days of investigation, to say that animals cannot be 
influenced by spirit-power. You know very well that you 
can influence them here by a look — by simply fixing your 
attention upon them. You can psychologize them ; you 
can magnetize them ; you can invest them with certain 
qualities of your own life. \Now, if you, in the body, can 
do this, certainly they who are out of the body, and know 
more about the laws of these things, can do far more\ 
I have no knowledge of this particular case to which you 
refer, but I have no doubt myself that the Indian has 
correctly informed the lady. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Jan. 24, 1870. 

Q. Is it possible, while a medium is entranced, and 
the medium's spirit away from his body, for the magnetic 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 369 

cord uniting the medium's spirit with his body to be 
severed, and the spirit controlling still keep possession of 
the medium's body and manifest through it, and all the 
processes of life go on as before, for any great length 
of time? 

A.. No, it is not possible, because diametrically op- 
posed to the laws of nature and spirit. 

Q. It has been said, through Mrs. Conant, that 
spirits change their forms, as humans do theirs. Now, if 
this is so, I w r ould inquire if, upon such change, the spirit 
assumes a form invisible to spirit- vision, or to the spirit- 
friends left behind, as is the case with us humans when 
we die, or change the mortal form for the spiritual? And 
is death, or change of form, in spirit-life, similar in its 
attendant circumstances to death in the earth-life ? 

A. Spirits are constantly changing their forms. 
They are constantly laying off what they have no longer 
need of, and gathering to themselves what they have need 
of. There are certain marked changes in the spirit-world 
that take place with reference to the spirit and its body, 
in that world, as there are here with you. There are 
changes that are equivalent to the change you call death. 
Spirits passing from lower to higher degrees in life, be- 
come invisible to those who remain beneath them. They 
take on more sublimated forms ; they come out of the de- 
gree of life that belongs to those who are beneath them, 
and therefore those dwelling in that sphere cannot see 
them any more than you can see those who dwell where 
I do. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Jan. 25, 1870. 

Q. Benjamin Franklin, the philosopher and philan- 
thropist, has recently been seen in the city of New York. 
24 



370 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

You would have pledged your solemn oath that he was 
present, and yet he may have been a million leagues from 
the place of the chemical manifestations. Will you ex- 
plain ? 

A. Spirits have the power to project likenesses of 
themselves to almost any distance from their spirits. 
For instance, they may wish to show you the external, 
the objective part of their being here in Boston, while 
they themselves, their thinking part, may be in London, 
or perhaps in the farthest distant star. By the science 
of chemistry, in the spirit-world, this is done. Those 
who have given such demonstrations tell us that it is sim- 
ply and easily learned. 

Q. When they show themselves to the clairvoyant, 
are they able to convey their thoughts in the objective 
form? 

A. Yes, because there is a magnetic connection be- 
tween the image and the spirit of their thought. They 
can understand your thoughts, and can answer them. 

Q. And can they project these bodies to different per- 
sons at one and the same time ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Is it because your mode of thought is so much 
more rapid than ours ? 

A. Yes, and so much more volatile. You have well- 
attested accounts of the appearance of apparitions of per- 
sons who are still in the body. Spirits who have made 
this science a study, tell us that these apparitions are not 
always the result of will on the part of the spirit from 
whom they are projected, but they sometimes come as an 
electrical consequence of their mental condition. 

Q. Can a spirit be seen in different localities at the 
same time? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 371 

A. Not the spirit, but the spirit-form can. 

Q. There is a lady whom I have never seen, who 
testifies to my presence and power to relieve her from 
extreme suffering, in some manner wholly unknown to 
me in my external consciousness. Is such a thing pos- 
sible ? 

A. Certainly it is. 

Q. Is there a spiritual sphere surrounding each planet, 
separate and distinct from every other planet? 

A. There is a spiritual sphere surrounding every sin- 
gle object of being, however small or however great ; 
therefore there must be one surrounding every planet. 
In that sphere spirits of course dwell. 

Q. Can they pass from one to the other? 

A. Certainly they can. 

Q. Will they be recognized in the other planets as 
spirits of human beings ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Can they communicate with one another? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Can we obtain likenesses of our spirit-friends 
through media? 

A. Provided the medium can be used by the spirits 
who desire to represent themselves. Not without. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Jan. 27, 1870. 

Q. Was the witch of Endor a medium ? 

A. In all human probability she was ; but wherefore 
do you call her the witch of Endor ? 

Q. She is called so in the Bible. 

A. No, you are mistaken. She is not called so in 
the Bible. The Bible speaks of her as the woman of 
Endor. 



372 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. Had the Salem witchcraft anything to do with 
Spiritualism ? 

A. It certainly was a phase of modern Spiritual- 
ism. 

Q. Do those that have lived in mortal life carry their 
guidance to spirit-life ? and can they control our circum- 
stances here? 

A. They are often permitted through natural and di- 
viue law to come and assist you to remain here. They 
carry their love with them, and all the purposes that fill 
the soul pass on to the spirit-life with the soul. 

Q. Can those who have transgressed the laws of this 
life, by the law of progression control and guide us to 
purity ? 

A. They certainly can. 

Q. What is it causes men to do wrong, the human or 
the spiritual ? 

A. That is a difficult question to answer. Since hu- 
manity, apart from spirit, could not act, we are to sup- 
pose that if the spirit does wrong or evil at all, it does 
so in consequence of the spiritual forces, not of the ma- 
terial. 

Q. Has the spirit power to keep the carnal in subjec- 
tion? 

A. The spirit has control over all matter. 

'Q. Then can wrong result from it ? 

A. Seemingly wrong, or the lesser good. 

Q. Is not humanity sometimes in the ascendant ? 

A. No, I do not so understand it. Matter never 
gains the ascendency over spirit. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 373 

By Joseph Lowenthall, Feb. 8, 1870. 

Q. Does insanity affect the spirit after it leaves the 
body? 

A. Only relatively. There is no permanent effect 
left upon the spirit. It is but a temporary shadow. 
There are no insane spirits. They sometimes make in- 
sane manifestations, in consequence of the inharmonious 
condition of the organism through which they must mani- 
fest ; but that is all. 

Q. According to that theory a spirit could not mani- 
fest its real self, except through a physical organism cor- 
responding to its former self. 

A. Yes, that is a correct inference. 

Q. And the more nearly the organism corresponds to 
that of the spirit, the more nearly you get the conception 
of the spirit? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Does color or complexion go with the spirit to the 
spirit-land ? 

A. Yes, relatively. Since it does not proceed from 
the external, but comes from the internal to the external, 
it must of necessity be deep-seated. It is incorporated 
with the entire physical life of the being, and more than 
that, it is a part of the spirit-body — belongs to that — 
therefore the spirit-body is affected by it ; is colored by it, 
if you please. In that way it is translated from the 
physical to the spiritual world, and affects the spirit after 
death. The Indian is the Indian still in color as in fea- 
ture and form. The negro is the negro still. 

Q. Then man must have originated in plurality, not 
in unity? 

A. No, I do not so understand it. I believe that of 



374 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

one spiritual essence God has made all nations of the 
earth, yea, of all universes, however far distant from this 
planet. I believe in one principle of life. It is the 
same in this table that it is in you and me. The Bush- 
man and the Anglo-Saxon in essence are one. In ex- 
pression they widely differ, but in essence they are one. 

Q. Whence comes divergence of complexion ? 

A.. Climatic influences produce this in a very large 
degree — outward circumstances. The conditions of a 
race produce its characteristics, organic and otherwise. 

Q. What will be the result of the large emigration 
to this country, to the poorer classes, in years to come? 

A. It must result in the elevation of the Anglo- 
Saxon. I It is a well-known fact that those races that ex- 
clude, that isolate themselves from all other races, soon 
become extinct. They are dwarfed in intellect, and very 
soon are lost from the face of the earth. That is the 
case with the aborigines of this country. They are 
fading away simply for the want of amalgamation with 
a higher race. \ The inhabitants of this country are des- 
tined to take a grand place in the scale of intellect, and 
it is principally owing to the tide of emigration that flows 
from all points of the compass, bringing the physical, in- 
tellectual, moral — in fact, the wealth of all the different 
conditions from which this emigration flows, to this cen- 
tre, sowing the intellectual soil with seeds that will spring 
up bearing fruit to the glory and honor of the great 
Guider of human events. 

By William E. Channing, Feb. 10, 1870. 

Q. It is a well-established fact that the spirit does 
communicate independent of the animal senses, which in- 
dicates two entities. The animal nature has its experi- 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 375 

ence, while we are informed that the spirit is as pure as 
God. If the above is true, what becomes of the animal 
life, when it leaves the body, and what will be its future 
mission ? As the spirit has its experience in the spiritual 
world, which cannot become reconciled with the external 
consciousness, so, also, the external faculties have their 
experience in the external world, which indicates two dis- 
tinct natures, of which I desire an explanation from our 
invisible friends. 

A. Round and round the circle runs. Spiritually and 
physically, we seem to be perpetually repeating ourselves. 
In other words, we move in circles, rotate forever and 
forever around the great central sun of all being, of life. 
The soul, the spirit, — to me these are terms seeking to 
express but one idea, — while it sojourns in the tabernacle 
of physical life, must express itself in accordance with 
the laws of this physical life. It is a power playing upon 
a machine. You w^ould scarcely understand me were I 
to tell you that you, every one of you, as spirits, stand 
outside and apart from your physical bodies, and play 
upon them as a musician would play upon an instrument. 
But it is so. The animal life, or electrical vitality, that 
belongs to the body, does its share of the work in keep- 
ing in tune all the functions of the animal body. It does 
not think; it does not express itself intelligibly; it does 
not aspire. It can be inspired according to its own de- 
gree, but it never aspires. The spirit-body and the spirit 
are one. The animal body and animal life is another 
distinct entity, precisely as the instrument is the instru- 
ment, and the performer is distinctly separate from it. 
The dual nature of humanity is being slowly understood. 
Step by step you are coming into an understanding of what 
you are ; but growth in this direction, as in all others, 



376 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

must be slow. You cannot readily understand how you, 
as an individual, can be in two places at one time. Many 
of you do not believe this, but it is a fact. The body 
may be here, the spirit thousands of miles away, com- 
municating with its friends, talking through its spirit- 
body. The science of this world is slowly rolling away 
the stone, and by and by the angel will appear in fair, 
white robes. You will understand yourselves better, and 
as you understand yourselves you will understand your 
God. But it is not for me or any other spirit, however 
exalted they may be, however wise they may be, to return, 
giving you what knowledge I may have upon the subject. 
It must grow up with your consciousness slowly, in order 
that you may understand and appreciate it. 

Q. Don't you think the artificial adornments worn 
by men, and especially by women, detrimental to the nor- 
mal growth and development of the human spirit ? Would 
it not be better to adorn ourselves more in harmony with 
Nature and physical health ? 

A. The human race, without exception, is endowed with 
the love of the beautiful, from the rudest savage to the most 
highly cultivated mind. The soul instinctively worships 
anything that is beautiful, whether it be a rose or a work 
of art. This love of the beautiful causes all this display 
of dress that we see in every age. Whatever an individ- 
ual conceives to be beautiful, that they desire to appropri- 
ate to themselves. (The savage thinks he looks better 
when he is in full paint ; so he paints himself. The 
modern belle thinks the same ; so she paints herself. The 
savage and the modern belle both gain their love of the 
, beautiful from Nature and Nature's God.\ As yet, they 
\ do not know how to fully and perfectly express this love. 
When they do, they won't paint their faces. And in all 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 377 

probability they won't load themselves with useless articles 
of dress. I say, when they learn better, they won't do 
this. But by slow degrees, man, in the external, comes 
to know of the gems, and their glory and their use, that 
lie in the internal of his being. This love of the beauti- 
ful is one of the most beautiful of all God's gifts to man. 
But at present it is poorly understood, and is therefore 
made an idol of. 

Q. It w r as stated last week, by the controlling influ- 
ence, that punishment for wrong doing in this life was 
inflicted by another for the same in spirit-life. Now, if 
repentance has been experienced by the wrong doer here, 
will his punishment be permitted to extend in the other 
life by any revengeful spirit that might have power to 
inflict punishment? 

A. There are ignorant spirits outside, as there are 
inside, of physical bodies ; and so long as there are, we 
must expect exhibitions of ignorance. Let me illustrate : 
Mr. A., in this world, fancies that he has been injured — 
and perhaps he has — by Mr. B., and he desires to be 
revenged upon him. He thinks he has not been pun- 
ished for his crime towards him. They both come to the 
spirit-world. Perhaps Mr. B. has repented of his evil, 
and, according to his own conscience, has paid the pen- 
alty in deep remorse. They both appear upon the stage 
of spirit-life. Mr. A. feels that Mr. B. has wronged 
him, that he has not been punished. He desires to inflict 
punishment upon him, and he has the powder to do it. So 
he does it. But he would not do it if he were wise 
enough to see that the man had already been punished, 
that he had suffered, and that there was no necessity for 
more suffering ; that he had been his own judge, and had 
condemned himself, had paid the uttermost farthing, and, 



378 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

according to his own light, had gone clear. But Mr. A. 
does not see this. He is ignorant, and so desires to take 
God's work out of his hand, as many do in this life. So 
he goes to work to punish him — deals out to him what 
he supposes to be a just punishment. Spirits have the 
power to do this in our life, as they have to do it in this. 

Q. We see at funerals both the dead and coffin cov- 
ered with flowers. We make our graveyards beautiful 
with them. And on all occasions, whether joyful or the 
reverse, we invariably have flowers, if it is possible to pro- 
cure them. At your circles you request those interested 
to bring flowers. Now, we ask the question, what is the 
meaning of it ? Of what use are they ? 

A. Flowers cannot fail to inspire the soul with a love 
of the Maker of the flowers, cannot fail to lift the soul, 
even though it be transiently, a step higher in the scale 
of being. You desire to be lifted beyond sorrow when 
your dead are before you, and so Nature instinctively calls 
for flowers. On your occasions of joy you desire to be 
still more joyful. Nature again calls for flowers. One 
writer has truthfully said they are the language of the an- 
gels. They talk to the soul of God. As you rise higher 
and higher in your love for God and the beautiful, you 
will love flowers more and more. 

By Father Henry Fitz James, Feb. 14, 1870. 

Q. How is it that questions in sealed envelopes are 
answered by other spirits instead of the one to whom they 
are addressed? 

A. Allow me to explain the process. In the answer- 
ing of your letters, some spirit who is best adapted to the 
work is selected to take control of the medium, either 
partial or entire, as the case may be. That spirit is then, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 379 

to all intents and purposes, a dweller in physical life, here 
with you. At the same time he is in connection with those 
invisible ones who are your guests at this place. The 
spirit who is answering the letters cannot see beyond the 
external any more than your medium, any more than you 
could. He knows only what is upon the external, what 
appeals to the eye — nothing more. That is why it is 
necessary for some name to appear upon the envelope, 
either of the spirit you desire to call or your own name. 
Then the spirit who is answering the letters calls out — 
silently, to be sure, but potently to the spirit — the name 
that is upon the envelope. If any one is present that can 
respond to it, they do so ; if not, the envelope is generally 
laid aside, they being unable to answer it. It would con- 
sume a much greater length of time and a much larger 
amount of magnetism in order to have each spirit who is 
called for come forward and control the medium, and give 
the answer. Perhaps seven times out of ten they would fail 
in the attempt ; so one is selected who can serve as amanu- 
ensis for all the rest, it being easier for the medium, easier 
for the spirits who desire to give an answer. We have 
only just so much time at our command, and just so much 
magnetic power that we are at liberty to use up. 

Q. I have been informed frequently that children, dy- 
ing when quite young, progress and learn in the spirit- 
world the same as when living. If so, why is it, as 
I have noticed in several instances, children that have 
passed away many years come back and control the me- 
dium, and talk childishly, and indistinctly, the same as 
when here? 

A. Such manifestations are not normal ; they are ab- 
normal, even to the spirit who produces them ; they are 
given to appeal to your past lives. For instance, you knew 



380 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

your child as a little child. It has grown to maturity in 
the spirit- world, but it desires to appeal to your con- 
sciousness, to be remembered. Consequently it comes to 
you as it was when here, as nearly as it is able to. If 
they came to you as they are now in spirit, you would 
find that the same progress had been made by them as 
spirits that would have been made under proper circum- 
stances in physical life here. 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 15, 1870. 

Q. Have our spirits been clothed with mortality pre- 
vious to the present existence? 

A. Many of you. What is true in one case is not 
in all. Some of you have doubtless but just started on 
the highway of human experience ; others have travelled 
a long distance that way. 

Q. After our spirits have passed from this body, will 
they ever return from the spirit-land to dwell again on the 
earth ? 

A. It is my belief that they will. 

Q. Can a man live so well in this life that he can 
overcome many of the laws of Nature, as Christ is said 
to have done? 

A. I do not believe that Christ did overcome any 
natural law. I believe that he, understanding the law, 
acted in harmony with it — made it his servant — did not 
overcome it. 

Q. Was it by the perfection of his nature, by a spir- 
itual approximation to his father? 

A. I believe that had a great deal to do with it. 

Q. Did it not have all ? 

A. No. 

Q. Is it an accident of Nature? 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 381 

A. No. 

Q. An incident of Nature ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Can one transmit this Nature? 

A. Yes, I think so. The more holy you are, the 
more confidence you have in yourself, the more positive 
you are. Jesus, if he lived a blameless life, of course had 
confidence in himself. He felt that he should have what- 
ever strength was necessary. / To the production of any 
great work, whether it be of mind or matter, confidence 
in one's self is absolutely necessary to its performance. 

Q. Did his perfect humanity enable him to be more 
fully connected with the law of Nature ? 

A. Certainly. He attracted to him those high and 
powerful intelligences that could best aid him in his 
work. 

Q. The consciousness of doing right gives extraordi- 
nary pow r ers. 

A. It certainly does. 

Q. Did Jesus rise from the tomb in his natural body ? 

A. I do not so believe. 

Q. What did he mean, then, by saying, "A spirit 
hath not flesh and blood, as ye see me have" ? 

A. He meant that he had adorned himself with a 
physical body for the time being. He did not say he 
had taken the old body that had been crucified and laid in 
the tomb. He had gathered to himself by his knowl- 
edge of natural law those elements that would appeal to 
physical sense. In other words, he made himself a physi- 
cal body, through which he could temporarily act. They 
did not see his spirit — only that body. 

Q. Do prayer and fasting perfect one's nature ? 

A. .Yes, provided you pray because you feel that you 



382 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

ought to. A great many people pray because they have 
been taught to believe it is right. That is no kind of 
honest prayer — will never avail anything. But if, when 
you pray, you feel that prayer to come from the sacred 
depths of your soul, it will effect something for you. 

Q. Is it the same with fasting? 

A. It will amount to little or nothing, only so far as 
physical life is concerned. It will, for the time being, 
change the elements of physical life. That is all. 

Q. Was there a necessity of Christ's fasting ? 

A. He said so. 

Q. ' And of Elijah and John? 

A. They so affirmed. 

Q. And the ancient saints who made themselves con- 
spicuous for holiness ? 

A. Many of them have so affirmed. We have no 
right to dispute them. If they believed in that rite, it 
was sacred to them. If they fasted because they felt 
they ought to from the sacred depths of their souls, it was 
right. It would elevate them in the spiritual scale of 
being. 

Q. Does not fasting reduce the animal nature, while 
prayer brings out the spiritual ? Should not both be em- 
ployed ? 

A. There is a truth, doubtless, in this idea. But 
there are some persons that can be brought into spiritual 
relations much better by taking the opposite course. It 
is not a rule that can be applied successfully to all. 

Q. Many affirm that Christ's natural body was raised. 
He said to Thomas, "Thrust your fingers in my side." 
How is that? 

A. I know that many so believe, but I know also, it is 
not true. That body, as I remarked a few moments ago, 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 383 

that Jesus manifested through when he appeared to his 
disciples after his crucifixion, was a body he had manu- 
factured, if you please, from the air. /He had gathered 
those elements from the air, and manufactured a physical 
body precisely as spirits at the present time manufacture 
faces and hands with which to greet you through the 
cabinets of the Davenports and others. It is the same 
law. 

Q. Was it flesh and blood ? 

A. Yes, flesh and blood to all intents and purposes. 

Q. What are the equivalents of flesh and blood in 
the spirit- world ? Are they electricity and magnetism ? 

A. Yes ; you may as well call them by that name as 
any other. You would understand it just as well. 

By Theodore Parker, Feb. 21, 1870. 

Q. When the body suffers decapitation, does the 
spirit-body suffer mutilation in any sense? 

A. No, it does not. You can kill, you can decapi- 
tate the physical body, but you cannot injure the spirit- 
body. That defies all such processes. It never suffers 
by accident. It is always intact in itself. 

Q. It is said that the head of a decapitated person 
retains sensation, sometimes for three hours, and seems 
to exercise its brain for an hour or so. Does this inter- 
fere with the formation of the spirit-body? 

A. No, for the spirit-body is already formed. 

Q. Is there any difference between the effect of this 
and that of a natural death ? . 

A. Yes, that difference which belongs to' circum- 
stances. The spirit leaves the body very slowly. The 
attraction that holds the spirit to the body physical, has 
been violently sundered, and the natural result is, the 



384 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

spirit holds its grasp upon physical life much longer than 
under other circumstances, because the attraction there is 
stronger than it would have been had the separation taken 
place by disease. 

Q. Is there ever a consciousness left in the brain of 
its condition? 

A.. I think not. The brain may act magnetically, 
but not intellectually. 

By Rev. Arthur Puller, Feb. 28, 1870. 

Q. At one of your circles the controlling intelligence, 
in answer to the question, w Why don't some of my spirit- 
friends communicate ? " gave as a reason " that there is a 
law which controls the communications of spirits. When 
the law is favorable, then they will." We wish you 
would explain how and on what principle this law oper- 
ates. Many are earnestly desiring more light on this 
subject. 

A. It is a universal law of nature by which spirits 
return, communicating with those who remain on the 
earth. It is presumed that you all know that this natural 
law makes certain demands of every living soul, that 
must be complied with. For instance, if I wish to hold 
control of this body, I must breathe, I must make use of 
the atmosphere in which I find myself. I must act in 
conformity to the law as I find it expressed through this 
human organism, else I cannot remain in control. And 
again, if I find on approaching this, or any other foreign 
organisn\, that it is not at that time adapted to my use, — 
that is to say, is magnetically and electrically opposed to 
me, — the law of repulsion acts towards me. If it says, 
"You cannot approach," I cannot. But I must wait till 
the law of attraction, or that feature of the law called 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 385 

attraction, beckons me on, and invites me to use the 
organism. Sometimes the physical sphere of the me- 
dium may repel us, while the spiritual atmosphere may 
attract, and vice versa. We can never tell whether we 
are going to succeed in controlling a medium till we come 
within the radius of the magnetic sphere. Then we know 
at once. There are an infinite number of points in this 
grqat natural law, infinite even with regard to the cause 
of spirit-control ; therefore it would be impossible for us 
to elaborate them all. 

Q. What are some of the conditions necessary to be 
/ observed by those who are asking the spirit to control ? 
jl. One of the conditions requisite is a passive state 
of mind on the part of the questioner. Be willing to 
receive whatever the spirit is able to give, at all times 
weighing whatever is given in the balance of your own 
reason, and accepting such as your reason sanctions, and 
nothing more. Again, it is necessary that you lay down 
all prejudice. Put all your preconceived notions under 
your feet, and be willing to receive whatever is true, for 
its own sake. Persons who seek to investigate this phe- 
nomenon should remember that it is the voice of God 
talking to his children. And remembering this, you will 
come in humility asking the Great Father Spirit to bestow 
upon you what you most need. And ask in all honesty 
of heart, equivocating not at all, either in thought or 
speech. Send out from the centre of your being, honest 
thoughts, honest purposes, and rest assured you will re- 
ceive such in return. 

— Q. I ask of a communicating spirit concerning the 
condition of a certain soul in spirit-life, and am answered 
that the soul is suffering severely from remorse of con- 
science. An Indian spirit comes and testifies that he sees 
25 



386 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

the same soul covered over with worms, or otherwise 
greatly afflicted physically. Will the intelligence present 
explain why the first spirit communicating does not see 
the same external surroundings of the soul described as 
the Indian does ? Please explain the why and wherefore 
of the thing, so as to bring it level with our senses, if 
possible. 

A. Souls are continually changing states of being — 
conditions of existence. Therefore it is quite possible 
that one intelligence might have seen a soul under cer- 
tain special conditions, while another looking at it another 
time, might have seen it under different conditions. You 
are not to suppose that souls in the spirit-world are always 
externally the same, for they are not. 

Q. In the case in question, the spirit was seen by 
both at the same time, and the intelligent spirit said that 
the Indian saw it in the manner described. 

A.. The Indian stands, spiritually, ever upon Nature's 
platform, and if any condition of mind is to be presented 
to him, some symbol must be shown him by which he can 
recognize the true condition of that mind. He learns by 
symbols in the spirit-world as here. He commenced his 
education that way, and it is generally carried on in that 
way in the spirit-world. Again, it may be accounted for 
in this way : For instance, I may see great beauty in the 
rose. To me it may be exceedingly beautiful. It may 
talk to me of heaven, while my brother may see in it no 
beauty at all. It is only a form of vegetable life. He 
does not see, does not realize the beauty. God in beauty 
does not talk to him from the rose. But he does to me, 
because we are differently constituted. We perceive 
things from our own particular plane . of perceptions ; 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 387 

even here in your life you do this, and in the spirit-land 
it is carried to still greater perfection. 

Chairman. I will read the following letter : — 

Frankfort- on-Maine, > 
• Germany, Jan. 23, 1870. > 

To the Editors of the Banner of Light. 

Pear Sirs : Fifteen years ago I became convinced of 
the truth of Spiritualism, which has ever since been my 
greatest comfort and consolation. I was then residing in 
New York. Since my arrival here, I find that our beau- 
tiful philosophy is spreading vastly in Germany ; but I 
have been surprised to find that the spirit-guides of the 
societies of Vienna, Breslau, Leipsic, &c, as well as 
those of Paris and Bordeaux, invariably teach that we 
have to pass through many re-incarnations in this or other 
worlds ; that the higher our development, and the greater 
the progress we make during our sojourn on earth, the 
fewer re-embodiments do we need. Will you kindly re- 
quest the spirit-guides of your "Banner circle'' to inform 
me whether this doctrine be correct, as I never heard it 
promulgated in the United States ? 

Yours for truth and progress, 

Eosetta Klein. 

A. /The theory of re-incarnation in America is a baby.i 
In some portions of Europe it has attained its majority. 
Since we have the evidence of thousands of spirits — I say 
we, meaning myself and the spirit-band with whom I am 
associated — since we have the evidence of thousands of 
spirits who remember having lived through several physi- 
cal existences, of course we know that the theory is cor- 
rect. We do not know that we, too, shall be again and 
again re-incarnated in physical life, but we believe we 
shall. Judging from the experience of others, we believe 
it to be our own fate also. 



388 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

By William E. Channing, March 7, 1870. 

Q. How do you account for so much apathy among 
Spiritualists in regard to the phenomena of Spiritualism ? 

A. All states of being, o§ thought, and of feeling 
have their high tides and their low tides. Sometimes the 
believer is carried, whether he will or no, upon the heights 
of inspiration and aspiration. He reaches out intuitively 
and instinctively to those things that belong to the spirit. 
At other times he seems to sit in the valley and shadow 
of spiritual darkness, spiritual apathy. Why is it? It 
is because he is so constituted that he cannot always seek. 
He cannot always be asking. There must be a time 
when there is a lull in these things. A few years ago, 
Spiritualists were borne upon the high tide of desire for 
phenomenal Spiritualism. They battled with the waves 
for months, ay, for years, and the majority received 
satisfaction from the warfare. They came forth victori- 
ous, and in their ignorance they said, "Now we have 
enough of this. The world has no longer need of phe- 
nomenal Spiritualism, because, forsooth, we have been 
satisfied." I say in their ignorance they say this, for- 
getting that there are others, and always will be, coming 
up the same ladder that they have come up, who have the 
need of phenomenal Spiritualism. They must have it in 
order to satisfy the first demands of curiosity in this 
matter. Those who have said that the world has had 
enough of phenomenal Spiritualism will perceive their 
mistake. They will presently be called to look back, to 
view the scenes through which they have passed. They 
will pause and reflect concerning the necessity that exists 
for others to pass through the same, in order that they, too, 
may know concerning Spiritualism. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 389 

Q. Would sickness, accident, or habits of dissipation 
destroy the power of mediums, as the Davenports and 
others ? 

A. Sickness has been known to so entirely change 
the magnetic currents, or forces, of mediums, as to 
destroy their mediumistic power. I believe it is a law 
which will apply to all mediums. 

Q. It does not always happen — does it ? 

A. Not always. Dissipation of itself rarely destroys 
the mesmeric power, unless it breaks down the physical 
constitution, and disease ensues. Then it is a secondary 
matter. 

Q. Is this the commencement of our existence ? 

A. Taking the testimony of those persons who declare 
to us that they have lived prior to this human existence, 
I should say, certainly, in their case, it was not- the com- 
mencement, and I should also infer from their state, that 
it was not the commencement, perhaps, with any of us ; 
that we had lived ages, perhaps, and cycles of ages ago. 

Q. Is there any certainty of this, excepting in their 
statements ? 

A. No, there is no certainty to us, because we can- 
not be certain of a thing that we have not experienced. 
To them it is an absolute certainty ; to us it is not. 

Q. Is it possible that some may have existed previous 
to this life, and others not? 

A. Yes, that is my belief. 

By Father Henry Pitz James, March 8, 1870. 

Q. In communion between spirits and mortals, do 
they come to us, or we go to them? In other words, is 
locomotion required with spirits or clairvoyants ? 

A. Yes, it is. Though I could communicate with 



390 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

you were I residing in the farthest distant star, and did 
not move out of my position, yet I might wish to go 
personally to you, and wishing, I have the power so to 
do. It is not an absolute necessity that a spirit should be 
personally with you in order to communicate, but it is 
generally the case. 

Q. Is not omnipresence an attribute of the human 
soul? 

A. No, I do not so understand it. 

Q. Is there no possibility of development to it? 

A. No ; that belongs to God, and to us as parts of 
God ; but we cannot exercise it because we are not the 
whole, 

Q. Then we are never to become gods ? 

A. Not in that sense. 

By Cardinal Cheverus, March 10, 1870. 

Q. Having read in w Questions and Answers," in a 
recent issue of the "Banner," of the effect upon the 
spirit of the various dispositions of the body within three 
days after death, I would like to inquire of the con- 
trolling intelligence, if proper, what would be the effect, 
or advantage, if any, both upon the spirit and upon phys- 
ical humanity in general, of burning the body, and the 
most proper time to do it? 

A. That was a favorite method of destroying dead 
bodies with a certain class of ancients. They believed it 
to be most in conformity to nature and spirit. They be- 
lieved that so long as the atoms composing the physical 
body were held together as a body, the spirit could not 
enjoy perfect freedom ; that it was attracted so power- 
fully to that body, that in that sense it was a prisoner. 
So they took the shortest method to destroy it, to dissolve 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 391 

the elements, and so thoroughly change the conditions as 
to separate the spirit and give it its freedom. That there 
was a great truth, a scientific fact, underlying this belief 
of the ancients, we know. I say we — we who have 
experimented in that line, we who are free from the flesh. 
We can stand outside, and view the operations of law 
with reference to matter and spirit. And yet I believe 
that there is a good accruing to the spirit by the process 
of slow decomposition of the body. I believe that, under 
certain circumstances, the spirit has need of just that 
kind of discipline, and will enjoy its freedom all the 
more, when it receives it in full. I believe it can gain 
an experience, through its relations with that decaying 
body, that it could gain in no other way ; an experience 
concerning the operations of the laws of nature, that it 
could obtain in no other way. Being intimately con- 
nected, spiritually, magnetically, and electrically, with 
the decaying body, it can view at pleasure the operations 
of nature upon that body, and gain great information 
therefrom ; can, in a word, talk with Almighty God 
through that open book. It has been said, and with 
truth, that you should have a care as to how you dispose 
of your deserted bodies. You do not always know when 
they are really deserted by the spirit. Outward signs are 
not always sure. It is a scientific fact that the spirit 
rarely departs thoroughly from the physical body in less 
than three days after they are what you deem to be dead. 
So, then, whatever you do to the body, you do to the 
spirit also. And although it may not sense what you do 
externally, physically, yet spiritually it will. And we 
have the evidence of many who tell us that they suffered 
the keenest pangs in consequence of the ignorance of 
their friends with regard to the disposition of their bodies. 



392 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. What is the effect of putting the body on ice, as 
is frequently done immediately after death? Does the 
spirit feel it? 

A. Certainly it does, and suffers more intensely than 
you in mortal have the power to conceive of; therefore 
have a care and not do this unless it is absolutely neces- 
sary to the preservation of the health and life of those 
who remain in the body. 

Q. It is done, in most cases, in order to give time 
for friends to arrive before the body begins to decay. 

A. In most cases, the same object may be reached 
by delaying three days before using ice. 

By Theodore Parker, March 14, 1870. 

Q. Of what benefit is the beard upon the face of man ? 

A. Medical men tell us it is given as a protection for 
those sensitive facial glands peculiar to man. Woman 
has no need, because those glands are less sensitive. 
Nature provides for all the necessities of her subjects, 
however small or however great they may be. 

Q. Are sex and affections recognized in the spirit- 
land? If so, to what extent? 

A. Yes, to be sure. There is there the male and 
female distinctly defined ; and since affection does not 
belong to the body, but to the soul, of course the soul 
carries it with it after it leaves the body. 

By Father Henry Pitz James, March 17, 1870. 

Q. In the message department, some time since, re- 
ferring to spirit-forms seen by mediums, the statement 
was made that the atmosphere of our earth contains 
everything belonging to this planet and much more, and 
all the elements necessary to the formation of everything 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 393 

known to our human senses; that spirit- forms, as seen 
by mediums, are not really the absolute and genuine 
forms of spirits, but those they have temporarily created 
out of the atmosphere, and consequently perishable. " My 
wife sees spirits — at least the exact appearance of per- 
sons who once inhabited the mortal form ; the question is, 
if what she sees is not the real form of the spirit, what 
kind of form does it have? 

A. By the real form is meant the permanent spiritual 
body. By that which we may call the unreal we mean 
that which has been temporarily woven out of atmos- 
pheric elements. Such a body can be seen by the nat- 
ural eye, but a spiritual body can be seen only by the 
spiritual eye, perceived by the spiritual senses. /When 
spirits clothe themselves out of the atmosphere, you can 
all see them, handle them. They have bodies that are 
flesh and blood, and bones, and sinews, and nerves, all 
manufactured out of the atmosphere, j But when media 
alone see them, they see them with the spiritual eye. 
Their spiritual perceptions are opened, while those of the 
masses are not, and they see the spirit-body, — that 
which is permanent with the spirit. 

Q. In one of the prayers offered here, the petition 
was offered that God would bless those who pray for 
blessings. Will persons be any more likely to receive 
blessings by praying for them? 

A. Prayer brings us nearer to the spirit of good, to 
that infinite spirit of good that exists everywhere. It 
changes our spiritual condition, and makes us more re- 
ceptive of the blessings we ask for. This is all prayer 
can do for us. It cannot change the purposes of the In- 
finite. It cannot bring God nearer to us, only as we 
come nearer to God. 



394 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

Q. In proportion as our desires are, shall we not be 
prepared to receive these blessings? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Is not there more benefit arising from work than 
from prayer? 

A. To me, work is prayer, and prayer is work. By 
prayer, I do not mean simply mouthed utterances. 

Q. Does not the moral welfare of society depend 
more upon work than upon prayer? 

A. Yes, certainly. A man might pray to all eternity 
for his field to be sown with wheat, and the harvest to be 
gathered in, but unless he or some one else worked in 
that field, the wheat would not be sown, the harvest 
would not be gathered. 

Q. Does prayer without works amount to anything? 

A. No, certainly not. It is prayer without a spirit, 
without a soul. 

Q. As Spiritualism advances, will the churches crum- 
ble, and a new organization be erected on their ruins? or 
will the churches be likely to adopt Spiritualism, and re- 
tain their organization ? 

A. The churches will be most likely to adopt it. Can 
you not see that it is even now being incorporated into all 
the churches? They are drinking it in just as fast as it 
is possible for them to. Their old theological darkness 
will quietly depart before this spiritual light. In other 
words, this leaven, which is in all the churches, will by 
and by leaven the whole lump. They will be changed 
unconsciously to themselves. It is the purpose of re- 
turning spirits not to tear down, but to spiritualize all the 
churches. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 395 

By John Pierpont, March 21, 1870. 

Q. Have we any evidence in Nature of an intelligent 
design working in Nature to the accomplishment of spe- 
cific ends, or are the perceptions of apparent adaptation 
and design but the necessary relation of cause and effect 
to the forces inherent in the primal elements of matter ? 

A. Those primal forces that are inherent in matter 
must have had a cause. There must have been a power 
behind them, and that power I believe to be spirit, and 
also intelligence. 

Q. Is there any self-conscious intelligence in the uni- 
verse except the organized self-conscious intelligence of 
the human spirit? 

A. No ; I know of none ; consequently it is right for 
me to answer as I do. 

Q. May we not as lawfully infer that there is a power 
beyond spirit as you do that spirit exceeds all the primal 
forces ? 

A. Yes, it is lawful for you to infer that, but the 
next thing is to demonstrate it. 

Q. May we not look for some important changes soon 
in this general movement which we call Spiritualism? 

A. Yes, and I think you will not look in vain. 

Q. Will you please indicate some of those changes in 
general outline? 

A. There will be more marked physical manifesta- 
tions, as you call them, for it should be understood that 
you have need of them as yet. There will be more 
marked intellectual manifestations. Clairaudience will 
become more general ; clairvoyance, clear seeing, will be- 
come more general. In fact, all the different phases that 



396 FLASHES OF LIGHT 

you have been familiar with in the past will become more 
exalted, and other phases will be revealed to you. 

Q. What is meant by the spiritual breathing ? 

A. You refer to the action of the spiritual body in 
some persons, while the spirit is incorporated in the phys- 
ical body. There are some amongst you whose spirit- 
bodies are as actively used, even while they are here in 
the physical body, as are their physical bodies. For in- 
stance, their spiritual lungs are used by the spirit ; their 
spiritual senses are used ; their spirit-bodies are just as 
much used as their physical bodies are, and more so. 
These persons you call mediums. The action of this 
spirit-body gives them predominance over physical life. 
They are able to depart from their bodies almost at will. 
Foreign spirits are able to control not only their spiritual 
bodies, but their physical bodies also, giving a variety of 
manifestations in Spiritualism with which you are all 
familiar. 



FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND, 397 



As small-pox is now prevalent, we close the volume 
with some statements (out of chronological order) made 
in reference to a particular case. 

By Doctor Sidney A. Doane, March. 1871. 

Small-pox generally gives certain premonitory symp- 
toms — sends forth certain couriers in advance of its 
coming, that cannot be mistaken, especially if one is look- 
ing for such a guest. Now, then, in case these symp- 
toms are felt by you, which, in your case, will be severe 
pain at the base of the brain, coldness of the hands and 
feet, undue heat at the stomach, attended with nausea — 
these will be the first premonitions of the coming of your 
guest — then you will have ample time to procure for 
yourself a house as far in the outskirts of the city as pos- 
sible ; secure for yourself two attendants who have had 
the disease ; take the largest and airiest apartment in the 
house for the room in which you are to be sick ; and, 
if it is not properly ventilated, make a hole anywhere 
through the side of the house, if there is no chimney in 
the room. If there is, open an avenue into the place, 
and let it remain always open. Then keep one of your 
windows dropped at the top, not so a draft will come 
upon yourself; keep the room at a temperature of sixty- 
five degrees, not much below and not much above. And 
this should be done by a wood fire, nothing else. Then 
take plenty of warm drinks, and drink particularly free 
of Indian-meal porridge made of water, and very thin, 
and use but little salt, if any, in your food. 

If the disease should be obstinate in coming to the 
surface, tne attendants should roll you in a sheet wrung 



398 FLASHES OF LIGHT FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

out of warm water — not cold — and pack you well in 
blankets till you are thoroughly steamed, giving you, the 
mean time, to drink, a tea of hemlock and saffron. Care 
always should be taken that the room is dark, so dark 
that you can scarcely see a hand before you. This pre- 
caution will preserve the skin, and render the disease less 
likely to take an inverted turn after it has been out a few 
hours, as is sometimes the case from the admission of 
too much light into the apartment. 

Pursue this course, taking no solid food for fourteen 
days, and unless it is decreed that you shall leave the 
body, you will weather the disease, and come out better 
than you entered upon it. 

Q. Do you recommend vaccination ? 

A. Never ! never ! never ! It is one of the most 
damnable of all practices that have ever been introduced ; 
it is a direct clog in the way of Nature's effort to do you 
good, and they who have suffered from the practice are le- 
gion. Your insane asylums are overflowing with its vic- 
tims, and consumption, that is so prevalent in the New 
England States, may — ninety-nine one-hundredths of it 
— be traced back to vaccination ; indeed, a majority of the 
ills that afflict humanity may be traced back to that most 
terrible practice ; and Dr. Jenner to-day, in the spirit-land, 
mourns over its advent upon earth. Small-pox, to the 
ignorant, is a curse, but to those who understand Nature 
and her laws and workings, it is a blessing; therefore 
why should we ask to impregnate the system with the 
virus which will work only evil results through life, by 
keeping out the physician which Nature sends in with 
probe and scalpel to drive out disease ? 



:JT 



INDEX, 



Adversity, 153. 
Alcohol, 66. 
Andrew, John A., 73. 
Animal faculties, 343. 
Association, national, 227. 
Astrology, 54, 313. 
Atmosphere, 270. 
Attraction, 40, 185. 
Aura, mediumistic, 48, 178. 



Beard, 392. 
Better land, 213. 
Bias, 33. 
Bible, 258. 
Bigotry, 41. 
Body, 263. 

" celestial, 117. 

" burning of, 390. 
Brainerd, David, 163. 
Burial, 390. 
Business, 282. 



o 



Chinese, 353. 
Chrishna, 308. 



Christianity, 87, 261, 394. 
Clairvoyance, 122, 139, 212, 231, 

297, 348. 
Clergyman, a, 248. 
Coffee, 295. 
Communication, difficult, 37, 142. 

" friendly, 219. 

" laws of, 37. 

Compensation, 158. • 
Congress, 99, 128. 
Consciousness, 155, 323, 351. 
double, 267. 
God's, 189. 
Cotton, 215. 
Credulity, 100. 
Criticism, 100. 
Cures, 216. 



Darkness, 139, 270. 

Davenports, 41, 58, 204. 

Day of judgment, 117. 

Death, 109, 127, 169, 214, 249, 

287, 358, 361. 
Death scenes, 38. 

" successive, 86. 
Deity, 220, 223, 235, 256. 
Destiny, 151. 

399 



400 



INDEX. 



Development, 239. 
Devil, 123, 153. 
Disease, 360. 
Dog-medium, 368. 
Dove, 35. 

E 

Earth changing, 96, 295. 
* " dying, 149. 
" size of, 169. 
Electricity, 113, 300. 

" a motor, 173. 

Elijah, 250. 
Embryo soul, 210. 
Endor, 348, 371. 
Eternal progress, order of, 146. 
Evil, 64, 153, 231. 

F 

Faith, 279. 

Family reunions, 113, 284. 

Fasting, 381. 

Fate, 151*. 

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 247. 

Fay, H. M., 204. 

Feathers, 215. 

Flowers, 121, 271. 

Foreordination, 54. 

Force, 110. 

" ante-nature, 67. 

" vital, 317. 
Foreseeing, 203. 
Forgiveness, 91, 93. 
Franklin, Benj., 369. 
Freedom, 33. 

G 

Gifts, 157. 

God, 160, 172, 189, 194, 220, 
256, 361. 
" impersonal, 112. 



God, where? 58. 

" his impossibilities, 122. 
Godliness, 206. 

Gold making, 143. 

Gorilla, 274. 

H 

Hallucination, 217. 
Hands, imposition of, 216. 

" spirit, 204. 
Healing powers, 300. 
Heaven, infants', 34. 
where? 53. 
Hereditary biases, 33. 
Holy Ghost, 154. 
Hunting, 290. 



Ice, 361, 392. 

Idea, 318. 

Identity, 46. 

Idiocy, 173. 

Ignorance, 232. 

Immigration, 374. 

Immortality, 165, 28G, 322, 335. 

Imponderables, 312, 358. 

Impossibilities, 122. 

Impression, 183. 

Indian, 290, 299, 352, 367, 385. 

" religion, 331. 
Individual, 49. 

Individuality, 134, 169, 225, 292. 
Infinite spirit, 217, 287, 364. 
Insanity, 113, 196, 373. 
Instinct, 193. 
Intermediate state, 85. 



Jesus, 221, 262, 282, 313. 
" body of, 251. 



INDEX. 



401 



Jesus, conception of, 55. 

" divinity of, 55. 

44 light, a, 248. 

44 medium, a, 35, 45, 48, 188. 

44 only begotten, 175. 

" spiritualist, a, 308. 

" sufferer, a, 305. 

44 resurrection of, 96, 100, 
248, 381. 

" second coming of, 201. 

44 uneducated, 83. 
Judgment day, 117. 
Jupiter, 182. 



K 

King Alcohol, 66. 
Klien, Rosetta, 387. 
Knowledge, 327. 



Land, 207. 

44 better, 213, 222. 
Landholders, 207. 
Languages, 332. 
Lavoisier, 143. 
Law, 145. 

44 prohibitory, 62. 
Learning, 157. 
Lee, Ann, 61. 
Letters, blood, 269. 

44 Banner circle, 124, 136, 
378. 
Levitation, 226. 
Liberty, 346. 
Lie, 346. 
Life, 168, 285, 310. 

44 essence of, 52, 247. 

44 germs, 318. 

44 unconscious, 190. 

26 



Lightning, 194. 
Liquor, 50. 
44 law, 62. 

M 

Madness, 196. 
Magnetism, 114, 300, 360. 
Man, 274. 

44 attributes of, 280. 
" deterioration of, 194. 
44 dual, 375. 
44 triune, 119. 
Mangum, Mr., 217. 
Manifestation, 47. 

44 physical, 41, 43, 

118, 174. 
March winds, 180. 
Marriage, 138, 195, 233. 
Matter, 51, 95, 133, 286. 
Mediums, 47, 108, 111, 131, 235. 
44 bad, 45, 220. 
" mirrors, 39. 
Mediumship, 45, 131, 175, 226, 

296, 339. 
Memory, 329. 

44 dependent on form, 77, 
260, 355. 
Memory, recording angel, 39. 
Men, their differences, 212, 247. 
44 visit Spirit Land, 262. 
44 are living three lives, 268. 
Mesmerism, 121, 178. 
Millennium, 203. 
Mind, 133, 192, 351. 

44 war of, 68. 
Moon, 161. 

N 

Names, 337. 

. 44 difficult to give, 36. 

Narcotics, 36. 

Negro, 68, 299, 321, 333, 352. 



402 



INDEX. 



o 

Oblivion, 34. 
Objectivities, 89, 280. 
Occupations, 230, 265, 332. 
Opium, 359. 
Organizations, 99. 
Oyster supper, 270. 



Parker, Theodore, 105, 237, 356. 
Paris, 281. 
Phrenologic bias, 33. 
Physicians, 60. 

Planets, 79, 112, 140, 182, 207, 295. 
Polar extensions, 169. 
Prayer, 166, 278, 381, 393. 
" through mediums, 180. 
" to whom? 234, 307. 
Pre-existence, 260, 264, 380, 389. 

" conscious, 70, 162. 

" unremembered,77. 

Progression, 70, 215, 225, 304. 
Property, 206. 
Prophecy, 54, 203. 
Prophet, 47. 
Providences, 307. 

Q 

Question, a proper one, 117. 

R 

Recognition, 65. 
Records, 175. 
Reformation, 344. 
Reincarnation, 72, 150, 294, 387. 
" not optional, 113,242. 
Religion, 154, 331, 343, 358. g 
Repentance, 118. 
Responsibility, 54, 306. 



Rest, 272. 

Resurrectionists, 71. 

Retrogression, 304. 

Return of spirits, 109, 264. 

Reunions, 76. 

Revenge, 181. 

Revolutions imminent, 342, 363. 

s 

Sabbath, 103. 
Sages, 201. 
Sawyer, 94. 

Schawle, Professor, 161. 
Science, 123. 
Seances, Banner, 275. 
Secretiveness, 347. 
Seer, 47, 122, 201. 
Shakerism, 61. 
Sin, 91, 192, 284, 297, 345. 
Slander, 281. 
Sleep, 108. 
Somnambulism, 160. 
Soul, 165, 192, 209, 210, 293, 343. 
Sovereignty, state, 130. 
Sphere, mental, 112. 
" second, 104. 
Spirit, 51, 95, 133, 168, 263, 285, 
293, 334, 348, 351. 

" accidents, 273. 

" advisers, 282. 

" animals, 171, 311. 

" attraction, 185. 

" artists, 332. 

" birth, 319. 

" body, 43, 298, 305, 383, 393. 

" bones, 96. 

" breathing, 396. 

" cold, 170, 268, 365. 

" color, 236, 373. 

" communication, 40. 

" control, 60. 

" day, 65, 205. 



INDEX. 



403 



Spirit death, 86, 127, 356, 369. 

44 desires, 43. 

44 development, 239. 

44 disease, 59. 
44 elements, 221. 

44 eternal, 51. 

44 exchange, 277. 

44 faculties, 94. 

44 flesh, 96. 

" flowers, 121, 261, 369, 378. 

" food, 301, 365. 

44 forms, 167, 271. 

" gardens, 184. 

" guides, 328, 349. 

44 hands, 204. 

" heat, 170, 268, 365. 

44 homes, 76, 184, 186, 333. 

44 hunting, 290. 

" infants, 33, 287. 

" influx, 150. 

44 knowledge, 326. 

" land, 65, 222. 

" language, 59, 127, 172, 355. 

" lights, 206. 

" likenesses, 370. 

" marriage, 138, 195, 233. 

" memory, 355. 

44 motions, 349. 

44 music, 59. 

" names, 337. 

" nationality, 127. 

" night, 65, 205. 

44 objectivities, 89, 280. 

44 occupations, 230, 265, 302, 

332. 

14 organs, 298. 

44 perceptions, 84. 

44 physicians. 59. 

44 property, 206. 

" recognition, 65. 

44 records, 175. 

44 rest, 205, 272. 

44 reunions, 113, 284. 

44 science, 340. 



Spirit senses, 319. 

44 sight, 48. 

44 sex, 343, 392. 

" size, 102. 

44 sounds, 128, 149. 

44 stigmata, 269. 

44 sufferings, 120. 

4; time, 51, 205, 273. 

" trance, 232. 

44 wishes, 357. 

44 world, 44. 

44 zones, 76. 
Spirits, business, 382. 

44 communicate, 168. 

" injure, 273. 

44 journey, 112. 

44 kill, 70, 291. 

44 lead men, 218, 326. 

44 low, 350. 

" lying, 244. 

44 make drunk, 63. 

44 make sick, 63, 115. 

44 mediumistic, 40. 

44 objective, 221. 

44 pass through matter, 168. 

44 are still on earth, 274. 

44 testing, 197. 
Spiritualism, 41, 80, 87, 100, 121, 
131, 133, 146, 
224, 227, 229, 
261, 314, 394. 
44 tested, 132. 

Spiritualists, 133, 227, 345, 388. 
44 bigoted, 41. 

44 malignant, 79. 

Spleen, 86. 

Star of Bethlehem, 55. 
State, intermediate, 85. 
Stigmata, 269. 

Suffering, 120, 153, 159, 182, 235. 
Suffrage, female, 81. 
Suicide, 64, 291. 
Surroundings, 283. 
Swedenborg, 244. 



404 



T 



Tea, 295. 
Telegraphy, 193. 
Testing spirits, 197. 
Thought, 266. 

" forms, 88, 150. 
Tobacco, 338. 
Trance, 139, 232. 
Transmigration, 78. 
Trinity, 119. 



u 

Unconsciousness, 156. 
Uranus, 182. 



INDEX. 



w 

War of mind, 68. 
Warnings, 215. 
Waves, 57. 
Winds, 57. 
Will, 101. 

" power, 144. 
Winds, March, 180. 
Witch, 371. 
Woman, 147, 348. 
World, spirit, 44. 

z 

Zones, spirit, 76. 



JLN EXPONENT ODB 1 THE 

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A HISTORY OF HER MEDIUMSHIP 

From Childhood to the Present Time; 

BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE 

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